^l/FOR^ 


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A  BRIEF  HISTORY 


OF  TH« 


ENGLISH   LANGUAGE 


BY 


OLIVER  FARRAR  EMERSON,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  English  at  Western  Reserve  University;  Author  of 

"  The  History  of  the  English  Language,"  "  An  Outline 

History  of  the  English  Language,"  "  A 

Middle  English  Reader" 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 

1925 

All  rightx  reserved 


Copyright,  1896, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  July,  1896.     Reprinted,  with  corrections) 
November,  1897  ;  July,  1900. 


J.  S.  CuBhing  St  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mm<.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

When  the  author's  History  of  the  English  Language  was 
passing  through  the  press,  a  friend  suggested  the  advisability 
of  preparing  a  brief  book  on  the  same  subject  for  schools 
not  desiring  the  longer  work.  ^  This  suggestion,  together 
with  the  success  accorded  to  the  larger  book  in  this  country 
and  abroad,  largely  accounts  for  the  present  volume. 

The  aim  has  been  to  shorten  and  simpHfy  the  History  by 
the  omission  of  technical  details,  especially  regarding  the 
phonology  of  the  language,  without  changing  materially  the 
scope  of  the  former  work.  Each  part  has  been  rewritten  or 
much  altered,  usually  by  omission,  but  sometimes  also  by 
addition  and  rearrangement.  The  greatest  changes  have 
been  made  in  Parts  IV  and  V.  In  Part  IV  the  history  of 
English  sounds  has  been  replaced  by  some  chapters  illus- 
trating the  most  important  and  characteristic  changes  in 
the  forms  of  words.  It  is  hoped  that  these  chapters,  with- 
out being  too  technical,  will  emphasize  the  importance  of 
phonetic  change,  analogy,  and  accent.  They  also  make 
it  possible  to  treat  inflections  on  a  phonetic,  rather  than 
an  orthographic  basis,  thus  simplifying  classification  and 
arrangement. 


\^} 


31259 


vi  PREFACE 

In  Part  V  some  advantageous  changes  in  order  have  been 
made.  The  most  noticeable  of  these  is  in  treating  the  weak 
verbs  before  the  strong.  This  order,  while  not  adopted  in 
the  larger  work,  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  plan  of  both ; 
namely,  to  give  prominence  to  those  elements  of  the  lan- 
guage which  have  been  most  stable  and  most  important. 
The  weak  verbs  were  not  only  more  numerous  than  the 
strong  in  the  oldest  period,  but  have  increased  in  number 
and  influence  at  the  expense  of  the  latter.  Besides,  the 
present  arrangement  not  only  emphasizes  the  more  regular 
weak  class,  but  also  brings  together  all  the  less  regular 
classes,  —  an  advantage  in  itself. 

As  in  the  larger  work,  much  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon 
the  spoken  language.  Yet  the  latter  has  been  by  no  means 
exhaustively  treated,  and  teachers  are  urged  to  stimulate 
observation  of  language  as  it  exists  about  them  in  speech,  in 
order  both  to  explain  its  forms  with  relation  to  older  usage, 
and  to  illustrate  the  influences  that  have  shaped  English  in 
the  past.  Indeed,  as  the  greatest  recent  advance  in  linguis- 
tic research  has  been  made  through  a  study  of  speech  forms 
as  used  by  common  people  day  by  day,  too  great  stress  can- 
not be  placed  upon  the  interest  and  advantage  still  to  be 
gained  from  the  same  process. 

Some  selections  representing  Old,  Modern,  and  Middle 
English  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.  To  these,  notes 
have  been  freely  added,  so  as  to  facilitate  their  use  in  illus- 
trating changes  which  English  has  undergone.  Other  speci- 
mens may  be  easily  obtained  from  the  Old  English  readers, 


PREFACE  vii 

and    from    Specimens   of  Early  English,   by   Morris   and 
Skeat. 

In  the  larger  work  reference  was  frequently  made  to 
authorities,  —  first  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  author's 
indebtedness,  second  as  a  guide  to  the  student  in  the  choice 
of  books  for  further  study.  It  has  not  seemed  necessary  to 
repeat  such  references  in  this  briefer  book,  as  teachers  and 
advanced  students  will  naturally  expect  to  use  the  larger 
History  for  reference. 

O.  F.  E. 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  July  i,  1896. 


CONTENTS 


I.  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I,    The  Indo-European  Family i 

II.    The  Teutonic  Languages ii 


II.    THE  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  THE 
DIALECTS 

III.  The  Old  English  Period     .        .       ,       ...       .23 

IV.  The  Middle  English  Period 35 

V.    The  Modern  English  Period 51 

III.    THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

VI.    The  Native  Element 79 

VII.    The  Borrowed  Element 90 

VIII.    Relation  of  the  Borrowed  and  Native  Elements  m 

IV.    CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

IX.    Phonetic  Changes 125 

X.    Phonetic  Changes  in  Vowels 136 

XI.    Analogy  in  English 147 

XII.    The  English  Accent 159 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

V.    THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   INFLECTIONS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

XIII.  Inflectional  Levelling  in  English        .        .        .  167 

XIV.  The  Noun 172 

XV.  The  Adjective 185 

XVI.  The  Pronoun 196 

XVII.  The  Verb 213 

XVIII.  The  Verb  (continued) 220 

XIX.  Verbal  Inflection 235 

XX.  Adverbs  and  Other  Particles        .       .       ,       .  241 

Appendix 249 

Index 257 


ABBREVIATIONS 

Lat.  =  Latin. 

ME.  =  Middle  English  (i  100-1500). 

MnE.  =  Modern  English  (1500-    ). 

OE.  =  Old  English  (800-1100). 

WS.  =  West  Saxon. 

<  =  "  from,"  or  "  derived  from." 

>  =  "  to." 


I 

ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 


CHAPTER  I  .  ,..  , 

THE  raDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY 

X.  The  history  of  English  properly  begins  with  the  first 
traces  of  the  language  in  the  land  which  has  been  for  so 
long  the  home  of  the  English  people.  |  Yet  there  will  be 
much  advantage  in  going  back  of  this  and  asking,  "  How 
far  is  English  different  from  the  other  languages  of  civilized 
peoples?"  "To  what  languages  is  EngHsh  most  closely 
allied,  and  what  are  the  grounds  of  these  aUiances  ?  "  The 
answers  to  these  questions  will  show  with  what  languages 
English  may  be  most  profitably  compared,  as  well  as  what 
are  its  most  characteristic  features. 

2.  Far  from  being  an  isolated  language  in  any  sense, 
EngUsh  is  but  one  of  an  important  group  making  up  what 
is  known  as  the  Indo-European  family.  By  a  family  of 
languages  is  meant  a  group  bound  together  by  essential 
similarities  in  the  forms  and  uses  of  words.  Such  a  family 
is  often  subdivided  into  various  branches,  each  of  which  is 
itself  composed  of  one  or  more  languages.  The  languages 
of  each  branch  are  also  bound  together  by  other  similarities 

B  1 


2  ENGLISH  AND   OTHER  LANGUAGES 

in  words  and  forms,  which  are  more  or  less  independent  of 
those  characterizing  the  family  itself. 

3.  A  family  of  languages  presupposes  original  union  of 
all  members  of  the  group  within  a  limited  area,  in  other 
words  a  common  home  and  a  common  ancestry.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  separation  of  the  family  into  various  lin- 
guistic divisions  is  owing  to  changes  which  are  inevitable  in 
language;./  .The.  common  language  of  the  original  family 
became  gradually  broken  up  into  separate  speech  groups, 
on  account  of  the  gradual  breaking  up  into  separate  tribal 
groups  as  the  people  pushed  out  in  various  directions  in 
search  of  new  homes.  Even  slight  barriers  between  two 
divisions,  as  a  river  or  mountain  range,  would  be  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  beginning  of  speech  divisions,  or  dialects, 
which  might  finally  become  new  languages. 

4.  Each  division  of  the  original  family  came  to  have  new 
words,  new  forms  of  inflection,  and  new  usages  in  grouping 
words,  or  what  is  called  syntax.  It  might  at  first  be  thought 
that  this  divergence  would  soon  become  so  great  as  to  pre- 
vent finding  any  likeness  between  the  separate  divisions. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  would  be  a  strong  tendency 
to  retain,  along  with  the  new  elements,  many  common 
every-day  words.  For  instance,  constant  usage  would  tend 
to  prevent  the  loss  of  many  names,  as  of  common  trees  and 
shrubs,  common  domestic  animals,  common  metals  and 
arts,  as  well  as  names  of  close  relationship,  —  father,  mother, 
son,  daughter,  and  others.  In  a  similar  way  the  commonest 
verbs,  pronouns,  and  adjectives  would  be  more  likely  to  be 
kept  than  lost.  A  study  of  these  simple  words  of  various 
languages,  as  well  as  of  the  simplest  grammatical  forms, 


THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY  S 

enables  the  philologist  to  find  links  connecting  one  lan- 
guage with  another,  and  uniting  several  groups  into  a  single 
family. 

5.  The  reference  to  the  common  home  of  the  original 
members  of  a  family  or  group  might  seem  to  imply  blood 
relationship,  as  well  as  linguistic  ties.  But  language  is  not 
a  race  characteristic.  While  blood  relationship  is  always 
possible,  and  often  extremely  probable,  it  is  not  proved 
by  the  possession  of  the  same  or  of  similar  languages. 
Many  facts  illustrate  this.  The  Irish  and  Scotch  speak 
English,  as  do  many  of  the  natives  of  India.  The  African 
race  in  America  has  preserved  few,  if  any,  remnants  of  its 
native  language,  and  uses  no  other  than  that  learned  from 
the  descendants  of  the  English  settlers.  In  referring  to  the 
linguistic  connections  of  English,  therefore,  race  connections 
are  not  necessarily  implied. 

6.  There  are  not  only  many  languages,  but  many  families 
of  languages,  known  among  men.  At  least  one  hundred 
families  are  known  to  exist,  although  only  four  have  been 
studied  with  a  considerable  degree  of  thoroughness.  The 
others  include  especially  the  native  languages  of  America 
and  Africa,  all  of  which  are  difficult  to  study  because  almost 
without  literature  and  constandy  undergoing  great  changes. 
The  four  families  which  have  been  most  thoroughly  inves- 
tigated are  the  Hamitic,  Semitic,  Ural-Altaic,  and  Indo- 
European.  Of  these  the  Indo-European  family  is  by  far 
the  most  important,  since  it  includes  the  languages  spoken 
in  ancient  and  modern  times  by  the  dominant  races  of 
Europe  and  Asia.  Next  in  importance  is  the  Semitic 
family,  since   it    embraces    languages    spoken   by  peoples 


4  ENGLISH  AND   OTHER  LANGUAGES 

which  have  had  great  influence  on  the  world's  history  in 
general,  and  on  the  Indo-European  races  in  particular. 

7.  As  the  name  Indo-European  implies,  the  family  con- 
sists of  languages  spoken  at  some  time  in  India  and  Europe. 
The  term  Indo-European,  however,  is  not  as  accurate  as 
might  be  desired.  India  does  not  include  all  the  parts  of 
Asia  in  which  languages  of  the  Indo-European  type  have 
been  spoken,  and  Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  is  somewhat 
too  general.  Other  names  applied  to  the  family  are  Aryan 
and  Indo-Germanic,  the  former  more  commonly  in  England, 
the  latter  in  Germany.  Objections  might  be  urged  against 
each  of  these,  and  on  the  whole  Indo-European  seems  to 
have  somewhat  the  advantage  of  either  of  the  others.  In 
any  case  the  exact  application  of  the  name  must  be  learned 
from  a  consideration  of  the  kind  and  number  of  languages 
included  in  the  family. 

8.  As  to  kind,  the  Indo-European  family  includes  lan- 
guages of  the  inflectional  type.  By  this  is  meant  that  the 
words  of  the  individual  languages  of  the  family  are  made 
up  of  roots  and  inflectional  endings,  or  modifying  parts, 
which  are  so  united  that  it  is  difficult  and  often  impossible 
to  separate  them  into  their  elements.  In  this  latter  respect 
the  Indo-European  languages  differ  from  those  in  which  the 
roots  and  modifying  parts  are  more  loosely  connected,  or 
agglutinative  languages,  as  they  are  called.  Other  languages, 
as  Chinese,  are  made  up  of  separate  roots  which,  though 
used  together  in  forming  sentences  and  compound  words,  still 
maintain  their  separate  identity.  After  being  used  together 
the  words  at  once  fall  apart,  to  be  reunited  into  equally 
loose  combinations.     Such  languages  are  called  isolating. 


THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY  5 

9.  Languages  of  the  inflectional  type,  like  the  Indo- 
European,  are  supposed  to  have  passed  through  both  the 
other  stages  of  development.  There  was  first  a  root  period, 
as  it  is  called,  in  which  no  trace  of  inflection  existed,  as 
none  exists  in  Chinese  to-day.  Later,  roots  and  the  minor 
words  which  afterwards  became  inflectional  suffixes  or  pre- 
fixes were  loosely  joined  into  compounds.  Finally  these 
two  elements  of  the  word  became  fused  into  one,  so  that 
there  was  no  longer  any  thought  of  the  separate  parts. 
The  two  or  more  parts  then  became  indistinguishable  except 
to  the  student  of  language,  and  even  the  philologist  often 
hesitates  to  speak  with  certainty  as  to  the  exact  dividing  line 
between  one  part  and  another. 

10.  The  Indo-European  family  of  languages  includes 
several  important  branches.  The  exact  number  has  been 
variously  given  in  the  past,  as  scholars  have  variously  esti- 
mated the  importance  of  certain  characteristics  of  each 
group.  Thus  from  seven  to  ten  divisions  are  made  by  dif- 
ferent scholars,  the  most  reliable  authority  at  present  placing 
the  number  at  eight.  As  is  natural,  most  of  these  must 
again  be  separated  into  important  subdivisions.  The  eight 
branches  of  Indo-European  are  Aryan,  Armenian,  Hellenic, 
Albanian,  Italic,  Celtic,  Balto-Slavic,  and  Teutonic.  A 
brief  description  of  each,  with  some  account  of  the  most 
important  subdivisions,  will  make  clear  the  relationships  of 
these  several  branches. 

II „  The  Aryan  branch  consists  of  two  groups,  the  Indian 
and  the  Iranian,  often  separated  in  the  past  into  indepen- 
dent divisions.  The  Indian,  in  the  older  time,  consisted  of 
a  literary  language  called  Sanskrit,  and  a  vulgar  language 


6  ENGLISH  AND   OTHER  LANGUAGES 

called  Prakrit.  The  first  is  found  in  the  Veda^  or  Brahmanic 
scriptures,  and  in  later  classical  writings.  From  the  latter 
have  developed  the  numerous  dialects  of  modern  India, 
while  one  form  of  Prakrit  also  became  the  literary  language 
of  the  Buddhists.  The  Iranian  group  is  represented  by  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions  of  the  oldest  Persian,  by  the  Avestic 
or  Zend,  the  language  of  the  sacred  books  of  Zoroaster,  and 
by  the  modern  Persian,  Kurdish,  and  Afghan.  The  oldest 
Indian  hterature,  the  Veda,  is  perhaps  as  old  as  1500  B.C., 
while  the  oldest  Persian  belongs  to  the  beginning  of  the 
sixth  century  B.C. 

12.  The  Armenian  branch  was  formerly  classed  as  a 
member  of  the  Iranian  group,  but  it  is  now  given  an  inde- 
pendent position  in  the  Indo-European  family.  It  is  repre- 
sented by  a  literary  language.  Old  Armenian,  which  is  found 
in  the  books  of  the  early  Armenian  Christians,  and  by  the 
living  dialects  of  Armenia.  Old  Armenian  dates  from  the 
fifth  century  a.d. 

13.  To  the  Hellenic  branch  belong  the  numerous  Greek 
dialects  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  Ancient  Greek  is 
known  from  inscriptions,  and  from  the  literary  language 
which  was  common  to  all  Greeks.  The  latter  sprang  from 
the  Attic  dialect  in  the  fifth  century  b.c,  and  soon  became 
the  standard  language  for  all  divisions  of  the  race.  It  there- 
fore contains  almost  all  of  what  is  known  as  Greek  literature. 
Outside  the  literary  language,  various  dialects  continued  to 
be  spoken,  and  these  form  the  basis  of  the  dialects  of  mod- 
ern Greece.  From  these,  in  modern  times,  has  arisen  a  new 
literary  language,  Modern  Greek,  which  is  used  by  the  writers 
of  the  new  Greek  nation. 


THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY  7 

14.  The  Albanian  language  is  now  the  only  representative 
of  an  Indo-European  branch  which,  at  one  time,  may  have 
been  somewhat  widely  extended.  Albanian  is  the  language 
of  ancient  Illyria,  and  has  been  known  especially  since  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  is  relatively  of  Httle  importance 
except  to  the  philologist,  who  finds  in  it  a  connecting  link 
with  the  Aryan,  Armenian,  and  Balto-Slavic. 

15.  The  Italic  branch  embraced  in  ancient  tim.es  the 
dialects  of  Italy.  Of  these,  Latin,  the  dialect  of  Latium, 
became  the  literary  language  of  ancient  Rome,  and  later, 
of  the  Roman  empire.  In  addition  to  Latin,  the  Italic 
branch  included  an  Umbrian-Samnitic  group,  of  which  the 
most  important  dialects  were  Umbrian  and  Oscan.  These, 
however,  were  overshadowed  by  Latin,  and  gradually  be- 
came extinct.  Beside  Hterary  Latin,  there  existed  in  the 
Roman  empire  a  vulgar  tongue  which,  as  spoken  in  the  prov- 
inces, developed  into  the  modern  Romance  languages.  The 
most  important  of  these  are  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  and 
Portuguese. 

16.  Languages  of  the  Celtic  branch  were  formerly  spoken 
over  most  of  western  Europe,  but  later  were  largely  dis- 
placed by  the  Romance  languages  and  English.  Celtic  was 
also  the  language  of  Galatia  in  Asia  Minor.  The  Celtic 
branch  included  three  groups,  Gallic,  Britannic,  and  Gaelic. 
Of  the  first,  the  language  of  ancient  Gaul,  little  is  known. 
Britannic  included  Welsh  and  Cornish  in  Britain,  and  Ar- 
morican  in  northern  France.  Welsh  and  Armorican  are 
known  from  the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  Cornish  from  a 
somewhat  later  time.  The  latter  died  out  about  a  century 
ago.      Gaelic  consists  of  Irish,  Scotch-Gaelic,  and  Manx. 


8  ENGLISH  AND   OTHER  LANGUAGES 

Of  these,  Irish  is  the  most  important,  since  it  is  represented 
by  an  extensive  literature  from  the  eighth  century,  and  by 
inscriptions  which  are  possibly  as  old  as  500  a.d.  Scotch- 
Gaelic  literature  began  somewhat  later,  and  Manx  has  been 
known  only  in  the  last  few  centuries. 

17.  The  Balto-Slavic  branch  consists  of  two  divisions. 
To  the  first,  the  Baltic  division,  belong  Prussian,  Lithuanian, 
and  Lettic.  The  first  died  out  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
Of  the  others,  Lithuanian  is  the  more  important  for  philo- 
logical purposes.  The  second,  or  Slavic  division,  falls  into 
two  geographical  groups,  the  southeastern  and  the  western. 
To  the  southeastern  group  belong  Russian,  Bulgarian,  and 
Illyrian;  to  the  western,  Bohemian,  Sorabjan,  and  Polish. 
Of  these,  Bulgarian  was  used  by  the  Slavic  apostles  Cyril 
and  Methodius  in  the  ninth  century,  and  it  thus  became  the 
ecclesiastical  language  of  the  Greek  church.  A  form  of  it, 
modified  by  Russian  and  other  Slavic  elements,  is  called 
Church  Slavonic. 

18.  The  Teutonic  branch,  in  which  we  are  especially  in- 
terested, includes,  among  others,  English,  German,  Dutch, 
and  the  Scandinavian  languages.  Its  oldest  representative 
is  Gothic,  which  is  preserved  in  a  partial  translation  of  the 
Bible,  made  in  the  fourth  century  a.d.  The  Scandinavian 
languages  are  known  from  runic  inscriptions  of  the  fourth 
century.  The  earliest  records  of  the  other  members  of  the 
Teutonic  group,  English,  Frisian,  Saxon,  Low  Franconian, 
and  High  German,  date  from  the  seventh  to  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, with  the  exception  of  Frisian,  which  has  been  known  only 
from  the  fourteenth  century.  But  a  complete  description  of 
the  Teutonic  languages  must  be  left  for  the  following  chapter. 


THE  INDO-EUROPEAN  FAMILY  9 

19.  The  many  relations  of  the  eight  branches  of  the  Indo- 
European  family  to  each  other  are  not  easily  illustrated. 
The  Asiatic  and  European  branches  might  be  united  into 
geographical  groups,  but  this  would  leave  out  of  account 
many  important  bonds  of  union.  A  general  idea  of  certain 
important  relationships  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
diagram :  — 


'teuton'c           \balto- 

C  \/v^ 

X~^ 

^-- — X ^  1 

\ 

INDO-EUROPEAN          \ 

INDOIfaVNIAN 

In  this  figure  the  large  oval  represents  the  common  words 
and  grammatical  forms,  while  the  overlapping  of  the  smaller 
circles  indicates  similar  characteristics  binding  together  the 
minor  groups.  Such  groupings,  however,  while  based  on 
certain  resemblances,  take  no  account  of  others  also  impor- 
tant. In  fact,  no  diagram  can  show  the  network  of  common 
bonds,  which  cross  and  recross  in  many  ways. 

20.  The  common  ancestry  of  the  Indo-European  lan- 
guages implies  a  common  home  in  the  remote  past.  As 
to  the  place  in  which  the  parent  race  j^riginally  lived, 
opinions  have  radically  differed.      According  to  the  older 


10  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

view,  the  original  home  was  in  the  table-lands  of  central 
Asia.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century  Latham,  an  Eng- 
lish scholar,  proposed  Europe  as  the  first  home  of  Indo- 
Europeans,  and  this  view  has  found  increasing  support 
among  scholars.  As  to  the  part  of  Europe  in  which  the 
first  Indo-Europeans  lived,  scholars  again  differ.  Some 
believe  it  to  have  ho^tw  the  region  about  the  southern 
end  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  while  others  suggest  a  region  farther 
south  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  argu- 
ments for  and  against  these  various  opinions  depend  upon 
a  minute  study  of  the  culture  of  the  parent  race,  as  shown 
by  the  languages  and  literatures  of  its  descendants.  They 
are  therefore  quite  too  elaborate  even  for  summarizing  here. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES 

21,  The  Teutonic  languages  receive  their  name  from  the 
Latin  name  of  the  people,  Teutones.  This  is  the  Latin  form 
of  a  Teutonic  word  tliiuda  ^  *  people/  which  is  not  preserved 
in  modern  English,  but  is  the  root  of  the  High  German 
adjective  Deutsch.  The  latter  form  of  the  word  accounts 
for  the  English  borrowed  name  Dutch,  which  was  formerly 
applied  to  German,  but  is  now  restricted  to  the  language 
and  people  of  Holland.  The  Teutonic  branch  of  the  Indo- 
European  family  is  sometimes  called  Germanic,  but  this  word 
is  easily  misunderstood,  because  of  the  use  of  the  term  Ger- 
man for  a  particular  division  of  the  group.  Besides,  the 
name  German  was  never  applied  by  the  Teutons  to  them- 
selves, in  whole  or  in  part,  so  that  on  this  account  also 
it  seems  less  suitable  for  the  race  or  the  language. 

22.  There  are  three  main  divisions  of  the  Teutonic  lan- 
guages :  Gothic ;  Norse,  or  Scandinavian ;  and  West  Teu- 
tonic, a  term  which  includes  all  the  other  members  of  the 
group.  Gothic,  the  oldest  member  of  the  Teutonic  branch, 
early  separated  into  East  and  West  Gothic.  Just  when  this 
separation  took  place  is  not  known,  but  the  language  which 
Ulfilas  used  in  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  §  i8,  is  sup- 

l  The  word  occurred  in  Old  English  as  ^eod  ("5  =»  th), 
II 


12  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

posed  to  be  West  Gothic.  An  East  Gothic  speech  remained 
in  the  Crimea  until  the  sixteenth  century,  although  only  a 
few  words  of  this  last  remnant  of  the  Gothic  language  have 
been  preserved,  through  the  curiosity  of  travellers.  Norse 
also  separated  into  West  and  East  divisions.  The  first 
includes  Norwegian  and  Icelandic,  the  second  Danish  and 
Swedish.  As  far  as  literature  is  concerned,  these  four  divi- 
sions were  later  reduced  to  three,  since,  owing  to  the  union 
of  Denmark  and  Norway  in  modern  times,  Danish  became 
the  literary  language  of  both  peoples.  Gothic  and  Norse  were 
formerly  classed  together  as  East  Teutonic,  but  they  are  now 
considered  independent  members  of  the  Teutonic  branch. 

23.  West  Teutonic,  like  Gothic  and  Norse,  separated  into 
two  divisions.  High  German  and  Low  German.  High  Ger- 
man is  the  language  originally  spoken  by  the  Teutonic  peo- 
ple who  dwelt  in  the  highlands  of  Germany.  It  is  distin- 
guished from  Low  German  by  a  shifting  of  consonants  which 
affected  the  language  of  the  highlands  and  only  slightly,  if 
at  all,  the  language  of  the  lowlands.  High  German  has,  how- 
ever, spread  over  middle  and  north  Germany,  while  from  it 
has  also  developed  the  literary  language  of  the  whole  people. 
Many  dialects  still  exist  beside  the  literary  language. 

24.  Low  German  is  applied  to  all  the  other  languages 
of  the  West  Teutonic  group.  These  were  originally  spoken 
in  the  extreme  north  of  Germany,  mainly  in  the  countries 
bordering  on  the  North  Sea,  until  some  of  the  Low  German 
peoples  migrated  to  Britain,  and  established  there  the  lan- 
guage since  known  as  English.  Besides  the  latter,  the  other 
members  of  the  Low  German  group  were  three,  Saxon, 
Frisian,  and  Low  Franconian.     These  were  the  languages 


THE   TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES  13 

of  the  Saxons,  the  Frisians,  and  the  Franks  of  the  lower 
Rhine.  The  Frisians  dwelt  in  the  northern  part  of  Holland 
and  Germany,  the  Saxons  to  the  east  and  southeast,  the 
Frankish  people  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  Rhine,  mainly 
in  southern  Holland  and  Belgium.  The  modern  representa- 
tive of  the  older  Saxon  is  called  North  or  Low  German. 
The  name  Frisian  is  still  retained,  although  the  language  is 
spoken  only  on  some  of  the  islands  off  the  coast  of  north 
Germany.  The  modern  languages  springing  from  Low 
Franconian  are  Dutch,  Flemish,  and  Low  Franconian.  Of 
all  these  modern  Low  German  tongues,  the  only  literary 
language  at  present  is  Dutch. 

25.  The  Teutonic  languages  differ  from  Latin  and  Greek, 
which  fairly  represent  the  Indo-European  parent  speech,  in 
many  particulars.  For  example,  the  elaborate  inflectional 
system,  so  characteristic  of  Indo-European,  is  far  less  per- 
fectly preserved  than  in  the  classical  languages.  This 
change  has  been  brought  about  through  a  tendency  toward 
simphfication  of  inflectional  forms  which,  though  affecting 
all  Indo-European  languages,  has  been  especially  strong  in 
the  Teutonic  languages  during  all  periods.  In  historic  times 
this  tendency  has  led  to  the  almost  total  loss  of  inflections 
in  some  members  of  the  Teutonic  group,  as  in  English. 
Besides  this  important  feature,  which  will  be  referred  to 
hereafter,  some  of  the  more  striking  characteristics,  common 
to  all  the  Teutonic  languages,  relate  to,  — 

1.  A  Great  Consonant  Change,  or  Shifting  of  Consonants. 

2.  The  Accent  of  Words. 

3.  A  Twofold  Declension  of  Adjectives. 

4.  The  Verbal  System. 


H  ENGLISH  AND   OTHER  LANGUAGES 

The  above  characteristics  are  more  evident  in  the  older 
periods  of  the  Teutonic  languages,  although  some  traces 
bi  them  are  still  to  be  found  in  most  members  of  the 
group. 

The  Great  Consonant  Shift 

26.  One  of  the  fundamental  peculiarities  of  the  Teutonic 
languages,  as  compared  with  Indo-European,  relates  to  a 
shifting  of  certain  consonants.  While  in  all  Indo-European 
languages  there  have  been  considerable  consonantal  changes, 
in  none  except  Teutonic  has  there  been  such  a  systematic 
shifting  of  several  series  of  consonants.  This  systematic 
shifting  of  several  series  of  consonants  is  called  the  great 
consonant  shift,  or  in  its  older  and  less  complete  form 
Grimm's  Law.  The  results  of  the  great  consonant  shift 
are  compHcated  in  themselves,  and  can  be  fully  appreciated 
only  from  the  older  forms  of  the  languages.  For  our  pur- 
pose the  best  idea  of  them  may  be  gained  by  comparison 
with  Latin,  as  the  most  familiar  representative  of  the  parent 
speech. 

27.  Even  a  superficial  comparison  of  Latin  with  English 
shows  that  there  are  in  both  many  words  which  have  similar 
meanings  and  some  resemblances  in  form.  Examples  are  : 
brother — /rater,  foot — ped{em)y  thou  —  tu,  two  —  duo, 
hill — coU{is),  yoke — jugiurri).  The  same  is  true  of 
Greek,  or  Sanskrit,  or  Celtic  words,  when  compared  with 
those  of  any  one  of  the  Teutonic  languages.  A  minute 
examination  of  many  such  examples  has  led  to  a  statement 
of  the  results  in  the  form  of  a  law  of  consonant  change.  A 
complete  statement  of  this  law  belongs  to  more  elaborate 


THE    TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES  IS 

treatises,  but  some  idea  of  its  more  important  features  may 
be  concisely  given. 

28.  Four  series  of  Indo-European  consonants  have 
shifted  in  the  Teutonic  languages.    These  are:  — 

1.  The  Labials     p,  ph,  b,   bh. 

2.  The  Dentals    t,    th,   d,    dh. 

3.  The  Palatals    k',  kh',  g',  gh'. 

4.  The  Gutturals  k,  kh,  g,   gh 

In  Teutonic,  however,  ph,  th,  kh',  kh,  have  had  the  same 
development  as  p,  t,  k',  k.  The  palatal  and  guttural  series 
have  also  had  a  similar  development  in  the  main,  so  that  for 
our  purpose  the  sixteen  consonants  above  are  reduced  to 
nine.  The  principal  results  of  the  great  consonant  shift 
may  therefore  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows :  — 

Indo-European  p,  b,  bh  became  Teutonic  f,  p,  b  respectively, 
t,  d,  dh      «  «        th,  t,  d       " 

"  k,  g,  gh     "  «        h,  k,  g       " 

If  the  columns  are  read  downwards,  the  law  becomes,  — 

Indo-European  p,  t,  k  became  Teutonic  f,  th,  h  respectively. 
b,  d,  g      *'  «        p,t,  k 

«  bh,  dh,  gh «  "        b,  d,  g         " 

29.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  understanding  the  results 
of  the  consonant  shift  is  owing  to  the  fact,  that  no  language 
perfectly  preserves  the  Indo-European  consonant  system. 
Besides,  a  modern  language  such  as  English  may  not  per- 
tectly  preserve  the  Teutonic  system.     In  comparing  any  two 


i6  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

languages,  therefore,  a  certain  modified  statement  of  the 
law  is  necessary.  This  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  con- 
sonants in  Latin  on  the  one  side  with  the  shifted  consonants 
in  Enghsh  on  the  other.  The  law  with  regard  to  Latin  and 
English  consonants  may  be  stated  thus :  — 

Latin  p,  b,  f  [b]  equal  English  f ,  p,  b  (v)  respectively. 
"    t,d,f[d,b]  «  «      th,  t,  d  « 

"     c,g,h[g]    «  «      h,c(ch),g(y)    « 

In  this  scheme  the  bracketed  letters  of  Latin  represent 
medial  sounds  only,  and  the  English  letters  in  parentheses 
represent  modern  variants  of  the  original  sounds.  The 
sign  c  in  Latin  and  English  represents  the  k  sound.  The 
changes  will  be  clearer  from  comparison  of  Latin  and  Eng- 
lish words. 

30.  Examples  of  words  illustrating  the  Latin  and  English 
consonant  equivalents  in  the  first  series  are  as  follows :  *  — 

1.  Latin  p  =  English  f :  pater  —  father ;  pecu  —  fee ; 
ped(em) — foot;  pell(is) — fell  'skin';  plu(ere) — flow; 
pat(ere)  — fath(om)  ;  cap(io)  —  haf  (t). 

2.  Latin  b  =  EngHsh  p  :  lubri(cus)  —  (s)lippery  ;  labi  — 
(s)leep;  turba  —  thorp  (in  compounds,  as  Ap thorp), 

3.  Latin  f  [b]  =  English  b  (v) :  frango,  fregi  —  break ; 
flos  —  blow  'blossom';  find  (ere),  fidi  —  bite;  fiber  — 
beaver. 

1  The  examples  represent  cognate  forms.  The  meanings  of  the  cognate 
words  may  be  quite  different,  owing  to  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  individual  languages.  In  most  cases  the  change  of  meaning  can  be 
easily  traced.  Many  other  examples  may  be  selected  for  comparison  in 
assisting  to  fix  the  law  in  memory. 


THE    TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES  17 

31 .  For  the  second  series  the  following  are  examples  :  — 

1.  Latin  t  =  English  th  :  tu  —  thou  ;  tres  —  three. 

2.  Latin  d  =  English  t :  dom(are)  — tame  ;  dom(us)  — 
tim(ber)  ;  duo — two;  ped(em) — foot;  ed(ere) — eat; 
cord(is)  — heart. 

3.  Latin  f[d,  b]  =  English  d:  fac(ere)  — do;  fing(ere) 

—  dough;  for(is) — door;  vidua  —  widow;  fend  (ere ) -^ 
bind;  rub(er)  —  red;  uber  —  udder. 

32.  Some  examples  of  the  third  series  are :  — 

1.  Latin  c  =  English  h :  cent(um) — hund(red)  ;  coll(is) 

—  hill ;  can  (is)  — houn(d)  ;  cap(io)  — haf(t). 

2.  Latin  g=  English  c(ch)  :  genu  —  knee;  (co)gnosco 

—  know;  gen(ui) — kin;  gus(tus) — choose. 

3.  Latin  h[g]  =  Enghsh  g(/)  :  homo — g(r)oom  (in 
bridegroom)',  host  (is) — guest;  veh(ere) — way. 

33.  While  the  law  of  the  great  consonant  shift  affects  the 
majority  of  the  consonants  included  under  it,  there  are  cer- 
tain apparent  exceptions.  For  instance,  st  remains  un- 
changed in  Latin  statio  —  English  stead,  and  in  Latin  hostis 

—  English  guest.  In  these,  and  other  similar  cases,  the  t, 
which  would  otherwise  change,  seems  to  be  protected  by  the 
preceding  s.  The  apparent  exception,  as  in  most  other 
cases,  is  due  to  the  influence  of  a  minor  law.  These  minor 
laws,  which  should  accompany  a  complete  statement  of  the 
great  consonant  shift,  cannot  here  be  explained  because  of 
their  technicality.  Enough  has  already  been  said,  however, 
to  show  that  the  consonant  system  of  Teutonic  has  a 
somewhat  different  character  from  that  of  any  other  Indo- 
European  language. 


18  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

Accent  and  Inflection 

34.  A  second  characteristic  of  Teutonic,  as  compared 
with  Indo-European  and  most  of  its  descendants,  is  its 
accent  of  words.  In  Indo-European  the  accent  was  free ; 
that  is,  it  might  change  from  one  part  of  the  word  to  another, 
as  from  root  to  prefix  or  suffix.  In  Teutonic,  on  the  other 
hand,  this  original  free  accent  became  a  fixed  stress  after 
the  earliest  period.  That  is,  the  Teutonic  accent  always 
rested  upon  a  particular  syllable  of  the  word,  and  did  not 
change  in  inflection  as  in  Greek,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  in 
Latin.  It  is  true  that  Celtic  had  a  similar  accent ;  yet,  com- 
pared with  Indo-European  and  the  classical  languages  espe- 
cially, the  Teutonic  accent  is  a  characteristic  feature.  The 
law  of  the  Teutonic  accent  will  be  given  and  illustrated, 
under  accent  of  English  words,  in  a  later  chapter. 

35.  Another  peculiarity  of  the  Teutonic  languages  in  all 
their  earlier  forms,  is  a  double  declension  of  adjectives; 
that  is,  the  Teutonic  adjective  was  declined  with  one  of  two 
sets  of  endings,  according  to  its  use  in  different  syntactical 
relations  of  the  sentence.  One  of  these  two  forms  cor- 
responds in  general  to  the  adjective  inflection  in  the  cognate 
languages.  The  other  was  developed  in  early  Teutonic,  and 
therefore  well  deserves  to  be  called  a  characteristic  feature. 
The  English  adjective  has  lost  all  traces  of  inflection  in  the 
later  development  of  the  language,  but  the  double  declension 
is  still  found  in  modem  German  and  in  the  Scandinavian 
languages. 

36.  Teutonic  also  differs  from  the  other  members  of  the 
Indo-European  family  by  reason  of  peculiarities  in  its  verbal 


THE    TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES  19 

system.  The  most  important  of  these  is  the  dental  preterit, 
or  past  tense.  This  dental  preterit,  that  is  the  preterit  end 
ing  in  EngHsh  in  d(t).  or  ed,  began  to  be  used  in  early  Teu- 
tonic, and  soon  became  the  most  common  form.  Equally 
characteristic,  though  less  important  as  far  as  frequency  is 
concerned,  is  the  use  of  different  vowels  to  distinguish  verbal 
stems,  as  in  sing  —  sang  —  sung.  Such  vowel  variation  is 
not  unknown  to  other  languages  of  the  Indo-European 
family,  but  in  no  other  language  was  it  made  a  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  verbal  stems.  These  peculiarities  of  the  verbal 
system,  though  much  modified,  are  still  found  in  all  members 
of  the  Teutonic  group. 

37.  Besides  the  inflectional  peculiarities  already  men- 
tioned, the  Teutonic  verb  had  another  characteristic  feature. 
Indo-European  had  an  elaborate  tense  and  mode  system,  as 
shown  by  the  classical  languages.  The  Teutonic  verbal  sys- 
tem, on  the  contrary,  was  extremely  simple.  Teutonic  had 
but  two  tenses,  a  present  and  a  preterit,  the  first  of  which 
was  used  for  present  and  future,  the  second  for  all  past  time. 
The  six  tenses  of  the  present  English  verb  are  compound,  not 
inflectional,  and  are  of  later  formation.  Moreover,  Teutonic 
early  lost  almost  wholly  its  inflected  passive  voice,  although 
its  place  was  later  supplied  by  a  compound  passive.  In 
several  respects,  therefore,  the  Teutonic  verbal  system  dif- 
fered from  that  of  the  other  Indo-European  languages. 

Relationship  of  the  Teutonic  Languages 

38.  A  full  discussion  of  Teutonic  should  include  a  state- 
ment of  the  differences  between  Gothic  and  Norse  on  the 
one  side,   and  West  Teutonic  on  the  other.     But  these 


20  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGE^ 

differences  are  in  the  details  of  sounds  and  inflections,  and 
belong  especially  to  the  older  periods  of  linguistic  devel- 
opment. The  special  statement  of  the  law  of  the  second 
consonant  shift,  which  separated  High  German  from  Low 
German,  belongs  rather  to  a  History  of  German  than  of 
EngHsh.  In  addition  to  the  shifting  of  consonants.  High 
German  is  characterized  by  great  conservatism  in  respect 
to  its  grammar.  On  the  contrary,  Low  German  shows  a 
marked  tendency  to  uniformity  or  leveUing  of  inflectional 
forms. 


39.  Within  the  Low  German  group,  English  and  Frisian 
were  so  similar  in  their  oldest  periods  that  they  may  prop- 
erly be  classed  under  the  general  title  of  the  Anglo- Frisian 
group.  Saxon  was  most  closely  related  to  Low  Franconian, 
although  in  some  respects  it  was  not  unlike  both  English 
and  High  German.  The  general  relationships  of  the  older 
divisions  of  the  Teutonic  languages  are  shown  in  the  above 
diagram  similar  to  that  used  for  the  Indo-European  family, 


THE   TEUTONIC  LANGUAGES  21 

§  19.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  such  a  dia- 
gram cannot  represent  all  important  relations,  and  must  be 
regarded  merely  as  a  guide  to  some  of  the  more  significant 
bonds  of  union. 

40.  From  the  standpoint  of  language  and  literature,  as 
well  as  from  that  of  extended  usage,  English  yields  in 
importance  to  none  of  the  Teutonic  languages.  It  pre- 
serves a  greater  body  of  literature  in  its  oldest  period 
than  any  of  the  others.  It  also  shows  in  its  manuscripts 
an  older  stage  of  the  language  than  any  of  the  others  except 
Gothic.  English  is  therefore  of  preeminent  importance  to 
the  student  of  early  Teutonic  literature  and  philology.  More- 
over, English  is  at  present  the  most  widely  used  of  all  the 
Indo-European  languages.  For  all  these  reasons  the  his- 
tory of  English  is  important,  not  only  to  English-speaking 
peoples,  but  also  to  those  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 

41.  So  much  has  been  said  of  the  Teutonic  languages, 
because  they  are  most  closely  allied  to  English  at  present, 
as  they  have  been  in  the  past.  That  is,  notwithstanding 
the  external  influences  which  have  affected  our  language, 
English  is  still,  as  it  always  has  been,  a  Teutonic  speech. 
It  has  retained  through  all  these  influences  a  groundwork 
of  Teutonic  words,  inflectional  forms,  and  syntax,  which 
have  continued  to  give  the  language  its  distinctive  charac- 
ter. Its  closest  connections,  therefore,  are  with  the  Teu- 
tonic, and  not  with  the  Romance  or  classical,  languages. 
The  meaning  of  this,  and  the  extent  to  which  it  is  true, 
will  be  seen  from  the  following  chapters. 

42.  It  is  usual,  in  treating  most  of  the  Teutonic  languages, 
to  recognize  three  periods  of  historical  development.     These 


22  ENGLISH  AND  OTHER  LANGUAGES 

are  called  the  old,  middle,  and  new  or  modern  periods. 
The  history  of  English,  therefore,  will  be  an  account  of  its 
development  in  each  of  these  three  chronological  divisions. 
The  first,  or  Old  English,  period  extends  from  the  settlement 
of  England  in  the  fifth  century  to  iioo.  The  Middle  Eng- 
lish period  covers  the  four  centuries  from  iioo  to  1500, 
and  the  Modern  English  period  extends  fi^om  1500  to  the 
present  time.  The  language  of  these  three  periods  is 
called  Old,  Middle,  and  Modern  English.  Old  English  is 
also  called  Anglo-Saxon,  §  48. 


II 

THE  STANDARD   LANGUAGE^  AND 
THE   DIALECTS 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD 

43.  Little  is  known  of  early  Britain  or  of  its  settlement 
by  our  Teutonic  ancestors.  \  Most  that  is  known  rests  upon 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  England,  a  Latin  work  written 
by  the  Venerable  Bede.  Bede  says  that  the  Teutons  were 
invited  by  the  British  king  Wyrtgeorn  to  assist  him  against 
his  enemies,  the  Picts  and  Scots  from  the  north,  and  west. 
After  repulsing  their  enemies,  the  Teutons  turned  against 
the  Britons  themselves  and  subdued  them.  Whether  this 
is  exactly  true  or  not,  it  is  clear  that,  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  century  of  our  era,  the  Teutons  gained  a  foothold 
upon  the  island  of  Britain  and  soon  became  masters  in  their 
new  home. 

1  By  a  standard  language  is  usually  meant  that  form  which  occurs  in  the 
generally  accepted  literature  of  a  nation  or  people.  There  may  also  be  a 
spoken  standard,  which  means  the  language  of  cultivated  speakers  in  some 
centre  of  national  influence.  Each  of  these  is  important  to  the  history  ol 
any  language. 

23 


24  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

44.  Before  this  time  the  island  of  Britain  had  been  the 
home  of  the  kinsmen  of  the  Gauls  and  the  Irish.  These 
Caesar  found  whep  he  set  foot  in  Britain  about  the  middle 
of  the  first  centur>  B.C.  In  the  last  half  of  the  first  cen- 
tury A.D.  the  Romans  completed  their  conquest  of  the  island 
as  far  north  as  the  Forth.  For  more  than  three  centuries 
from  this  time  Britain  was  occupied  by_  tke  Romans. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  however,  the  Roman 
soldiers  were  withdrawn,  and  for  a  short  time  Britain  was 
again  an  independent  Celtic  state.  This  independence  was 
of  short  duration.  The  Teutons,  who  had  been  kept  from 
settlement  only  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Roman  soldiery, 
soon  conquered  the  island  and  made  it  their  home. 

45.  The  Teutonic  invaders  were  of  three  tribes,  —  the 
Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Angles.  The  Jutes  settled  in  Kent, 
the  isle  of  Wight,  and  the  mainland  adjoining.  The  Saxons 
occupied  the  rest  of  England  south  of  the  Thames,  together 
with  the  land  bordering  on  the  north  bank  of  the  lower 
Thames.  The  Angles  took  possession  of  the  rest  of  England 
to  the  north  and  east.  The  dates  of  the  establishment  of 
the  various  kingdoms  are  given  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle^  but 
it  is  doubtful  whether  they  can  be  relied  upon  in  every  par- 
ticular. They  are  probably  so  far  correct  as  to  show  that 
the  Kentish  kingdom  was  first  established,  the  Saxon  next, 
and  finally  that  of  the  Angles,  these  events  extending 
through  about  a  century  from  the  earliest  settlement. 

46.  Our  Teutonic  ancestors,  when  they  came  to  Britain, 
had  been  practically  unaffected  by  Roman  or  Christian  civ- 
ilization. After  they  reached  the  island,  however,  the  Teu- 
tonic peoples  received  Christianity,  and  this  had  an  indirect 


THE    OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD  2i 

influence  upon  the  language  itself.  Christianity  first  came 
to  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  owing  to  the  marriage  of  King 
^thelberht  (d.  6 1 6).  with  a  Christian  princess  of  France. 
The  conversion  of  ^thelberht  brought  Christianity  to  all 
southern  Britain,  as  the  Kentish  king  was  overlord  of  the 
region  south  of  the  Humber.  A  little  later,  Eadwine 
(d.  633),  king  of  Northumbria  and  overlord  of  Britain, 
married  the  daughter  of  the  Kentish  king,  and  also  became 
a  Christian.  The  establishment  of  Christianity  formed  a 
bond  of  union  for  all  the  peoples  of  Britain.  As  one  result, 
a  Christian  literature  sprang  up,  and  not  a  few  words  from 
Latin,  the  language  of  the  Christian  church,  were  added  to 
the  language  of  England. 

Early  Names 

47.  In  the  earliest  times,  the  Teutonic  peoples  of  Britain 
were  distinguished  by  different  names  according  as  they 
came  from  different  regions  of  northern  Europe.  Later,  the 
terms  Engle  *  Angles  '  and  Englisc  *  English  '  were  generally 
adopted  for  all  the  Teutonic  peoples.;  For  example,  the 
Kentish  king  y^thelberht  called  himself  and  his  people 
Engle ^  and  Pope  Gregory  used  the  same  name  for  the  whole 
people.  Another  name  of  similar  origin,  Angeicyn  *  Angle- 
kin,'  was  also  used  for  the  Saxons  as  well  as  Angles,  and 
applied  to  the  country  as  well  as  to  the  people. ;  Still  later, 
England  {Englaland)  *  land  of  the  Angles '  was  generally 
employed.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Celts,  during  this  early 
period,  called  all  the  Teutonic  peoples  by  the  general  name 
Saxons,  while  the  latter  gave  to  the  Celts  the  name  Welsh^ 
that  is,  '  strangers.' 


26  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

48.  The  use  of  the  name  English  for  the  language  of  our 
early  forefathers,  as  distinct  from  the  people,  rests  upon  even 
better  grounds.  Its  earliest  and  more  restricted  use  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  a  vernacular  literature  first  originated  in 
Northumbria,  an  Anglian  state.  Soon,  however,  the  name 
came  to  designate  the  language  of  the  whole  nation)  For 
example,  the  Saxon  Chronicle  speaks  of  the  five  languages 
of  Britain  as  "  English,  British,  Scotch,  Pictish,  and  Latin," 
in  which  English  clearly  refers  to  the  language  of  all  the 
Teutonic  peoples.  In  the  later  period  of  West  Saxon  Ht- 
erary  supremacy,  the  name  English  instead  of  Saxon  was 
regularly  employed.  The  name  Anglo-Saxon  for  language 
and  people  was  never  generally  used  by  the  English  them- 
selves, and  its  present  employment  is  due  mainly  to  those 
who,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  revived  the 
study  of  the  older  language.  |  As  the  name  English  was 
originally  so  common,  and  as  it  better  suggests  a  continuity 
of  linguistic  development  which  no  one  questions,  it  will  be 
used  in  this  book  for  the  language  of  all  periods. 

The  Old  English  Language  and  its  Dulects 

49.  Old  English  retained  all  the  characteristics  of  Teu- 
tonic already  described.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  distinct 
from  the  other  Teutonic  dialects  in  certain  peculiarities  of 
sounds,  which  gave  its  words  somewhat  different  forms,  as 
well  as  in  its  inflections  and  syntax.  Few  of  these  dis- 
tinctive features  are  easily  illustrated  without  reciting  details 
of  Old  English  grammar.  However,  some  general  charac- 
teristics may  be  given.    The  Old  English  vocabulary  was  at 


THE   OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD  ti 

first  almost  exclusively  Teutonic ;  that  is,  unaffected  by  con- 
siderable foreign  influences./  Later,  as  will  be  seen,  some«^ 
words  were  borrowed  from  Celtic,  and  more  from  Latin  and 
from  Norse,  or  Scandinavian.  The  inflectional  system  of 
Old  English  was  complicated,  though  less  so  than  that  of 
Latin  or  Greek.  Old  English  syntax  was  much  nearer  that 
of  Modern  German  than  that  of  Modern  English. 

50.  Not  only  were  the  Teutonic  settlers  in  Britain  of 
different  tribes,  but  their  language  represented  different  dia- 
lects of  the  common  Low  German  division.  These  dialects 
were  scarcely  so  diverse  that  the  different  tribes  could  not 
understand  each  other,  but  there  was  still  no  common  spoken 
or  written  language.  After  the  tribes  had  become  estab- 
lished in  Britain,  there  were  four  fairly  marked  speech  divi- 
sions. These  were  Kentish  in  the  southeastern  corner  of 
Britain ;  West  Saxon  south  and  west  of  the  Thames ;  Mer- 
cian between  the  Thames  and  the  Humber ;  and  Northum- 
brian between  the  Humber  and  the  Firth  of  Forth.  Of 
these,  Kentish  and  West  Saxon  form  the  Southern  group, 
while  Mercian  and  Northumbrian  make  up  the  Northern  or 
Angiian  group,  each  representing  a  division  of  the  Anglian 
people.  The  position  and  extent  of  these  dialect  divisions 
may  be  seen  from  the  map  on  the  following  page. 

51.  It  is  difficult  to  characterize  these  dialects  in  any  but 
a  general  way,  without  going  into  the  minutiae  of  grammar. 
As  to  the  sounds  of  the  language.  Southern  EngHsh,  that  is 
West  Saxon  and  Kentish,  shows  a  tendency  to  palatalization 
of  both  vowels  and  consonants.  In  this  respect,  Mercian 
also  usually  agrees  with  Southern  English.  The  best  single 
example  of  this  palatalization  is  the  case  of  the  Old  English 


28 


STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 


ENGLISH  DIALECTS  IN  THE  TENTH  CENTURY, 


THE   OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD  29 

consonant  c,  which  has  become  the  sound  ch  in  Modern 
English,  representing  the  older  Mercian,  while  in  Scotch, 
representing  old  Northumbrian,  it  has  retained  the  sound 
of  k.  Compare  such  words  as  church,  chaff,  churl,  chalk, 
with  Scotch  kirk,  caff,  carl,  cauk.  Note  also  Winchester, 
and  Rochester  in  the  south,  as  compared  with  Doncaster  and 
Tadcaster  in  the  north  of  England,  all  of  which  contain  the 
Latin  word  castra '  camp,'  which  suffered  palatalization  along 
with  native  words.  The  palatalization  which  caused  this 
change  must  have  begun  in  the  Old  English  period. 

52.    On  the  other  hand.  West  Saxon  and  Kentish  are  more 
conservative   in   respect  to  inflectional  forms   than   either 
Northumbrian  or  Mercian.     Thus,  final  n  in  inflectional  end- 
ings is  regularly  lost  in  Northumbrian  and  often  in  Mercian, 
but  seldom  in  West  Saxon.     The  infinitive  of  the  verb  '  sing '     - 
is  singa  in  Northumbrian,  but  singan  in  West  Saxon.     The 
indicative  third  singular  of  verbs  ends  in  ^3",  ad  (t5=th)  in    : 
West  Saxon,  but  in  es  {as) ,  from  which  the  Modern  English  s 
ending  is  derived,  in  Northumbrian.    In  Northumbrian  also, 
feminine,  as  well  as  masculine  and  neuter,  nouns  take  a  geni- 
tive singular  in  es,  instead  of  e,  and  thus  approach    more 
nearly  the  Modern  English  form.     Some  peculiarities  of  syn- 
tax may  also  be  noted.     For  example,  the  Modern  English 
preposition  in  is  common  only  in  Northumbrian  and  Mer- 
cian, while  on  {an)  is  the  usual  West  Saxon  form.     In  all 
these  particulars,  Northumbrian  is  nearer  to  Modern  Enghsh  »^ 
than  is  West  Saxon.     In  most  of  them  also,  Mercian,  fromw" 
which  Modern  English  was  eventually  to  develop,  shows  a 
Hkeness  to  Northumbrian. 


30  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 


The  Literary  Language 

53.  Of  each  of  the  dialects  some  literary  monuments 
remain,  but  their  value  from  the  standpoint  of  language 
and  literature  varies  greatly.  Two  of  the  dialects,  Nor- 
thumbrian and  West  Saxon,  gained  prominence  by  becoming 
the  medium  of  an  important  Hterature,  while  the  others 
never  attained  the  position  of  literary  language  for  any 
considerable  part  of  the  people  of  England.  The  Nor- 
thumbrian and  West  Saxon  Hteratures  therefore  merit  special 
attention. 

54.  The  first  dialect  in  which  an  important  national 
literature  appeared  was  Northumbrian,  the  northern  divi- 
sion of  the  AngHan  group.  In  Northumbrian  a  rich  body 
of  English  poetry  was  produced  in  the  last  of  the  seventh 
and  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century.  To  Northumbria  - 
belongs  the  composition  of  the  great  epic  of  Old  English 

■^  times,  Beowulf y  a  poem  which  is  still  full  of  the  fire  of  the 
heathen  war  spirit,  although  since  its  composition  it  has 
been  retouched  by  a  Christian  writer.     In  this  region^Csed- 
mon,  called  the  father  of  English  poetry,  composed  a  para-   . 
phrase  of  part  of  the  Bible.     To  the  same  region  probably 

■^  belongs  the  excellent  poetry  of  Cynewulf,  the  author  of 
Christy  Elene,  Juliana^  and  other  poems.  Besides  these 
gr/eat  epic  poems  there  was  a  smaller  number  of  lyric 
character.     Native  prose  was  also  written.     For  instance, 

_^  the  Venerable  Bede,  far  more  widely  known  for  his  Latin 
writings,  translated  part  of  the  Bible  into  English.  It 
should  be  mentioned,  however,  that  most  of  the  literature 
of  the  north  is  not  preserved  to  us  in  a  Northumbrian 


THE   OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD  3V 

dialect,  and  would  not  be  known  except  that  it  was  copied  | 
in  a  later  time  by  West  Saxon  scribes.  ' 

55.  The  literary  supremacy  of  Northumbria  is  doubtless 
connected  with  that  prowess  of  the  Northumbrians  which 
gained  for  them  the  overlordship  of  Britain  in  the  seventh 
century.  This  preeminence  in  literature  Northumbria  re- 
tained through  the  eighth  century,  although  her  political 
importance  was  on  the  wane.  For  example,  in  Northum- 
bria during  the  last  half  of  the  eighth  century,  Alcuin 
acquired  that  learning  which  led  to  his  becoming  the 
teacher  and  friend  of  Charlemagne.  But  the  importance 
of  Northumbria  finally  diminished  at  the  rise  of  a  greater 
kingdom  in  the  south. 

56.  Although  Mercia  was  powerful  during  the  last  half 
of  the  eighth  century,  no  Mercian  king  was  overlord  of 
all  England.  Probably  on  this  account  Mercian  did  not 
become,  in  Old  EngHsh  times,  a  Hterary  language  for  the 
whole  English  people.  At  any  rate,  the  next  dialect  to  obtain 
literary  supremacy  was  that  of  the  important  kingdom  of 
Wessex,  the  rise  of  which  began  with  Ecgberht,  who  reigned 
from  802  to  839.  The  kingdom  of  Wessex  was  strength- 
ened and  enlarged  by  the  great  Alfred,  and  under  his  sons  < 
the  West  Saxon  king  became  overlord  of  all  Britain.  Alfred 
also  stimulated  a  great  literary  revival.  He  himself  trans- 
lated such  works  as  the  Cura  Pastoralis,  or  Pastoral  Care, 
of  Pope  Gregory,  the  Chronicle  of  Orosius,  and  the  Con- 
solations of  Philosophy  by  Boethius.  Other  prose  works 
belong  to  the  same  time,  as  the  Chronicle  of  Winchester, 
and  a  translation  of  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History,  which  was 
formerly  attributed  to  Alfred.    The  literary  revival  under 


32  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

Alfred  was  thus  principally  productive  of  prose,  although 
the  older  poetrj^of  Northumbria,  as  already  mentioned,  was 
transcribed  by  West  Saxon  writers. 

57.  After  Alfred's  death  literature  suffered  a  decline  in 
Wessex,  although  West  Saxon  remained  the  literary,  or 
standard,  language  of  England.  A  second  literary  revival 
occurred  in  the  last  of  the  tenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century.  The  literature  of  the  period  consists 
mainly  of  religious  writings,  as  ^thelwold's  translation  of 
the  Rule  of  St.  Bene  die  tj  the  JBilkkling^  Homilies  ^  the  Homiz 
lies  of  .x^lfric  and  Wulfstan^  and  ^Ifric's  Lives  of  the  Saints. 
iElfric  also  produced  a  Latin  Grammar^  an  English  and 
Latin  Colloquium^  and  a  translation  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament.  Prose  fiction  is  repre- 
sented by  translations  of  Apollonius  of  Tyre  and  the  Won- 
ders of  the  Orient.  Besides  this  prose,  there  is  some  poetry 
belonging  to  the  period,  as  the  Solomon  and  Saturn^  and 
accounts  of  the  battles  of  Brunanburh  and^Maldon. 

58.  The  literary  ascendency  of  the  West  Saxon  dialect 
ended  with  the  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Wessex.  The  West 
Saxon  overthrow  resulted  from  the  conquest  of  England  by 
the  Northmen,  who  are  called  Danes  in  English  history, 
although  they  came  from  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  as  well 
as  from  Denmark.  The  first  Danish  attack  on  Northumber- 
land occurred  as  early  as  787.  About  a  century  later  the 
first  actual  settlements  were  made.  East  Anglia  having  been 
occupied  in  870.  Then  came  the  great  struggle  with  Wes- 
sex, in  which  the  Danes  were  repulsed  and  held  in  check 
by  the  prowess  of  Alfred  and  his  sons.  In  980,  however, 
a  new  Danish  invasion  began,  and  in  1016  the  conquest  01 


THE   OLD  ENGLISH  PERIOD  33    t 

England  was  completed,  aPanish  king  being  seated  on  ^  ^ 
the  English   throne^    It  is  not  strange  that,  under  these  ^    ^ 

circumstances,  English  literature  should  have  almost  ceased  ^y^^. 
to  exist,  although  English  continued  to  be  the  language  of     V 

the  people.  a\ 

59.  In   1042  the  English  kingdom  was  temporarily  re-  ^o 
stored   under   Edward   the  Confessor,  but  the  restoration 
had  little  effect  upon  literature  or  the  extension  of  the  use 

of  English.  This  was  largely  owing  to  the  weakness  of  the 
English  king  and  the  fact  that  Edward's  sympathies  were 
with  Normandy,  the  land  in  which  he  had  lived  from  boy- 
hood. Edward  also  surrounded  himself  with  French  nobles 
whom  he  placed  in  positions  of  trust,  and  French  priests 
to  whom  he  gave  principal  places  in  the  church.  More- 
over, the  king  and  his  favourites  spoke  Frencji^  so  that 
•English  was  no  longer  the  language  of  the  court.  So  con- 
siderable were  Edward's  acts  of  favouritism  that  they  were 
resented  by  the  English  people,  and  a  revolution  in  1052 
resulted  in  the  expulsion  and  outlawry  of  the  Norman 
prelates. 

60.  The  English  restoration  under  Edward  was  soon 
followed  by  another  conquest  of  far-reaching  importance, 
that  by  which  William  of  Normandy,  in  1066,  became 
William  I  of  England.  Such  an  event  could  not  but  have 
its  effect  on  the  use  of  English  as  an  official  and  Hterary 
language.  With  the  government  in  the  hands  of  conquer- 
ors, there  was  naturally  little  stimulus  to  the  production  of 
a  national  literature.  Besides,  while  English  continued  to 
be  written.  West  Saxon  was  no  longer  recognized  as  pre- 
eminent among  the  dialects.     Each  writer  used  the  dialect 


34  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

most  familiar  to  him,  according  as  he  lived  in  the  south, 
the  midland,  or  the  north. 

6i.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  in  speaking  of  the  decline 
of  English  literature,  that  English  has  remained  the  spoken 
language  of  England  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  her  his- 
tory. The  Normans  did  not  force  their  language  upon  the 
people,  as  the  Danes  at  their  conquest  did  not  attempt  to 
force  the  use  of  Danish.  In  fact,  it  is  probable  that  com- 
paratively few  Englishmen  learned  Norman  French.  Cer- 
tainly, among  the  mass  of  the  people  the  mother  tonguf 
remained,  at  the  close  of  the  Old  EngHsh  period,  almost 
as  pure  as  if  Frenchmen  had  not  fought  at  Hastings,  or  a 
Norman  been  crowned  at  Westminster.  The  real  influence 
of  French  upon  English  belongs  almost  wholly  to  the  Middle 
English  period  and  will  be  discussed  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD 

gig  62.  When  the  Old  English  period  closed,  English  was  ^ 
again  in  the  condition  of  separate  dialects  none  of  which 
could  claim  ascendency  over  the  others.  In  other  words, 
at  this  time  no  literary  language  represented  the  nation  as 
a  whole,  and  no  literature  expressed  the  thought  and  feeling 
of  the  whole  people.  It  is  true  that  works  were  written  in 
Latin,  the  common  language  of  scholars  throughout  Europe, 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  and  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century.  These  were  theological  works,  as  those 
of  Lanfranc  and  Anselm ;  mathematical  treatises,  as  those 
of  Gerland,  ^thelard  of  Bath,  and  Philip  de  Thaun ;  chron- 
icles, as  those  of  Florence  of  Worcester,  Simeon  of  Durham, 
William  of  Malmesbury,  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and  many 
others.  Besides  this  Latin  literature,  there  were  also  many 
works  in  Norman  French,  the  language  of  the  conquerors, 
such  as  the  poetical  histories  of  Gaimar  and  Wace,  and  the 
romances  of  Walter  Map.  Almost  the  only  English  works 
written  during  the  twelfth  century  were  certain  Chronicles^ 
one  of  which,  kept  at  Peterborough,  comes  down  to  the 
year  1154.  From  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century, 
however,  an  increasing  literature  was  written  in  the  different 

35 


36  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

Middle  English  dialects,  and  finally  English  again  came  to 
be  the  literary  language  of  the  whole  English  people.  The 
history  of  the  Middle  English  period,  therefore,  is  the  his- 
tory of  certain  dialects,  and  of  the  rise  of  a  new  literary 
language  for  England. 

Middle  English  and  its  Dialects 

63.  In  describing  Old  English,  §  49,  some  general  char- 
acteristics of  its  most  flourishing  period  were  given.  Typ- 
ical Middle  EngHsh,  or  that  of  the  two  centuries  from  1200 
to  1400,  shows  some  decided  changes.  In  the  first  place, 
the  vocabulary  was  no  longer  almost  exclusively  Enghsh 
in  origin.  Many  words  had  already  been  borrowed  from 
French  and  Norse,  while  the  Latin  element  in  the  language 
had  also  gradually  increased.  Besides,  the  inflectional  sys- 
tem had  been  largely  levelled,  so  that  in  its  simplicity 
English  far  more  nearly  approached  the  language  of  mod- 
ern times.  With  the  losses  to  the  inflectional  system  there 
had  also  come  a  more  analytical  syntax.  That  is,  word  order 
was  much  less  free,  and  the  relation  of  words  to  one  another 
was  marked  by  the  larger  use  of  prepositions  and  auxiliary 
verbs. 

64.  The  dialects  of  Middle  English  are  in  the  main  nat- 
ural developments  from  those  existing  in  Old  English  times. 
They  also  occupy  practically  the  same  territory  (see  p.  28). 
They  are,  however,  called  by  somewhat  different  names,  as 
Northern  instead  of  Northumbrian,  Midland  instead  of 
Mercian,  and  Southern  instead  of  the  older  West  Saxon. 
Kentish  retains  its  name,  although  owing  to  its  less  impor- 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  37 

tant  development,  it  is  often  included  in  Southern  English. 
Besides  change  in  name,  only  one  important  difference 
between  the  dialects  of  Old  and  Middle  English  need  be 
noted.  The  Midland  dialect,  which  assumes  new  impor- 
tance in  the  Middle  English  period,  separated  into  several 
minor  dialectal  divisions,  of  which  the  most  important  are 
East  Midland  and  West  Midland.  Before  the  close  of  the 
Middle  EngHsh  period,  the  Northern  dialect  also  began  to 
separate  into  two  divisions.  Lowland  Scotch  and  Northern 
English  proper,  the  former  of  which  became  the  literary 
language  of  Scotland. 

65.  The  dialects  of  Middle  English  may  be  briefly  char- 
acterized by  some  of  their  more  striking  features.  As  to 
sounds.  Old  EngHsh  a  became  0  (as  in  lord^  in  Southern 
and  Midland,  but  remained  a  in  Northern.  This  distinction 
accounts  for  the  later  difference  between  such  words  as 
English  home  and  Scotch  hame.  Southern  English,  on  the 
other  hand,  differed  from  Northern  as  well  as  Midland  in 
changing  f  to  v  and  s  to  z  initially.  Thus  in  Southern,  for 
example,  fox  and  so  became  vox  and  zo.  As  to  vocabulary, 
the  Northern  dialect  contained  a  larger  number  of  Norse 
words,  while  Southern  and  Midland  had  borrowed  a  larger 
number  of  words  from  French.  Certain  differences  in  in- 
flection also  distinguish  the  separate  dialects.  In  nouns  the 
plural  form  was  more  regularly  made  in  Northern  and  Mid- 
land by  adding  es,  while  in  Southern  many  en  plurals  were 
found.  In  verbs,  eth  was  the  Southern  ending  of  the  in- 
dicative third  singular  and  the  plural ;  but  en  was  the  ending 
of  the  plural  in  Midland  forms,  while  es  was  found  in  both 
singular  and  plural  of  the  Northern  dialect. 


38  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 


J 


The  Fusion  of  French  and  English 


66.  Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact  that 
English  remained,  after  the  conquest  as  before,  the  language 
of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  England.  While  at 
first  French  was  spoken  by  the  conquerors,  and  by  the 
Normans  who  followed  them  after  the  establishment  of  the 
new  kingdom,  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  adopted  to 
any  extent  by  the  English  people.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  clear  from  many  recorded  statements  that  the  Normans 
themselves  soon  began  to  learn  and  use  the  language  of 
their  adopted  country,  as  their  Norse  ancestors  had  learned 
French  soon  after  settling  in  Normandy.  Just  how  early 
this  took  place  is  uncertain,  but  of  the  fact  itself  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt. 

67.  Indeed,  the  fusion  of  the  two  races  probably  took 
place  much  earlier  than  is  usually  supposed.  This  may  be 
shown  in  many  ways.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  the  policy 
of  William  the  Conqueror  to  disturb  existing  laws  and  cus- 
toms as  little  as  possible.  After  the  battle  of  Hastings,  he 
presented  himself  for  election  to  the  kingship  before  the 
English  national  assembly  (Witenagemote),  and  took  the 
coronation  oath  of  former  English  kings.  He  also  re- 
tained popular  legal  institutions,  and  confirmed  the  laws  of 
his  predecessor  Edward.  Moreover,  William's  sons,  Rufus 
and  Henry  I,  were  able  to  hold  their  possessions  against 
the  Norman  Robert  and  his  adherents,  only  through  the 
support  of  their  loyal  English  subjects.  Finally  there  is 
the  evidence  of  contemporary  writers  as  to  the  complete 
union  of  conquerors  and  conquered.     Walter  Map,  who 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  39 

died  in  1210,  tells  us  explicitly  that  the  reign  of  Henry  I 
put  an  end  to  the  distinction  between  Norman  and  English- 
man. Another  writer  of  the  time  of  Henry  II  (1154-1189) 
confirms  this  by  saying,  "  Already  the  English  and  Normans, 
by  dwelling  together  and  intermarrying,  are  so  mixed  that, 
among  freemen  at  least,  it  can  scarcely  be  determined  to-day 
who  is  of  EngHsh  and  who  of  Norman  birth." 

68.  The  fusion  of  the  two  races  was  rapid  and  easy  on 
several  accounts.  First,  the  actual  number  of  the  Normans 
coming  in  at  the  conquest  has  been  greatly  exaggerated  in 
popular  estimation.  Besides,  many  Normans  came  long 
after  the  conquest,  when  England  and  Normandy  were 
united  as  parts  of  one  great  empire  and  all  hostility  between 
the  races  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  Moreover,  direct  Nor- 
man influence,  if  it  continued  so  long,  ceased  at  the  loss  of 
Normandy  in  1204.  Indeed  that  event  could  hardly  have 
happened  at  all,  if  for  some  time  before  it  the  interests  of 
Normans  had  not  been  transferred  almost  wholly  to  Eng- 
land. Finally,  in  1244,  Louis  IX  of  France  commanded 
the  English  nobles  to  relinquish  their  possessions  in  Eng- 
land, or  give  up  their  claim  to  those  in  France.  In  retalia- 
tion for  this,  the  English  king,  Henry  III,  ordered  all 
Frenchmen  who  held  possessions  in  England  to  be  de- 
prived of  their  property.  This  last  act  could  hardly  have 
been  ordered,  if  many  in  England  were  still  regarded  as 
belonging  to  the  Norman  race.  If  all  these  facts  are 
taken  together,  the  conclusion  seems  inevitable  that  the 
fusion  of  the  two  races  began  as  early  as  the  first  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  a  century  after  the  conquest  was 
complete. 


# 


40  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

The  Spoken  Language 

69.  The  best  evidence  of  the  fusion  of  the  races  depends 
on  what  is  known  of  the  adoption  by  the  Normans  of  the 
language  of  the  conquered  people.  As  to  this  there  are 
many  incidental  allusions.  It  is  asserted  on  excellent  au- 
thority that  William  I  himself,  far  from  trying  to  supplant 
English,  attempted  at  the  age  of  forty-three  to  acquire  the 
English  tongue.  There  is  at  least  little  doubt  that  he  un- 
derstood English.  William's  son,  Henry  I,  was  probably 
taught  English  in  childhood.  Henry  II  (1154-1189)  under- 
stood, if  he  did  not  speak,  the  tongue  of  EngHshmen, 
and  in  his  time  also  nobles  of  Norman  birth  "  could  freely 
speak,  or  understand,  English."  In  the  reign  of  Richard  I 
(1189-1199),  a  bishop  of  Norman  birth  blamed  another 
Norman  bishop  because  he  could  not  speak  the  language 
of  the  people.  In  the  century  following,  the  Bishop  of 
York  refused  benefices,  even  to  those  recommended  by  the 
Pope,  on  the  ground  that  they  could  not  speak  English, 
while  in  the  poHtical  troubles  of  1263  those  nobles  who  did 
not  understand  the  native  tongue  were  held  in  no  esteem 
by  the  common  people. 

70.  More  significant  still  of  the  favour  in  which  English 
was  held,  is  the  attempt  of  Edward  I  (1272-1307)  to  incite 
enmity  against  the  French  by  proclaiming  that  the  king  of 
France  "  planned,  if  his  ability  should  correspond  v/ith  his 
iniquitous  purpose  (which  God  prevent),  to  destroy  the 
English  language  wholly  from  the  earth."  The  third  Ed- 
ward (1327-1377)  opened  Parliament  in  1362  by  declaring 
in  English  the  causes  of  the  summons.     This  is  significant 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  41 

proof  that  in  the  formalities  of  parliamentary  proceedings 
English  was  displacing  French.  In  the  same  year  the  same 
Edward  granted,  on  petition  of  the  Commons,  that  pleadings 
in  the  courts  of  law  should  again  be  in  English.  The 
statute  is  most  explicit.  After  reciting  "  the  great  mischiefs 
which  have  happened  to  divers  of  the  realm,  because  the 
laws,  customs,  and  statutes  of  this  realm  be  not  commonly 
known  in  the  same  realm,  for  that  they  be  pleaded,  showed, 
and  judged  in  the  French  tongue,  which  is  much  unknown 
in  the  said  realm,"  it  ordains  "  that  all  pleas  which  shall  be 
pleaded  in  his  [the  king's]  courts  whatsoever,  before  any  of 
his  justices  whatsoever,  or  in  his  other  places  or  before  any 
of  his  ministers  whatsoever,  or  in  the  courts  or  places  of 
any  other  lords  whatsoever  within  the  realm,  shall  be 
pleaded,  showed,  defended,  debated,  and  judged  in  the 
English  tongue." 

71.  During  the  fourteenth  century,  English  also  regained 
its  place  as  the  language  of  the  schools.  This  of  course 
means  that  French,  which  had  hitherto  been  thought  proper 
for  the  sons  of  the  upper  classes,  was  now  felt  to  be  dis- 
tinctly out  of  place.  Higden's  Poly  chronic  on  ^  written  about 
1352,  is  the  authority  for  our  knowledge  of  the  use  of  French 
in  the  schools.     Higden  tells  us,     • 

"This  impairing  of  the  birth  tongue  is  because  of  two  things;  one 
is,  for  children  in  school,  against  the  usage  and  manner  of  all  other 
nations,  be  compelled  for  to  leave  their  own  language  and  for  to  con- 
strue their  lessons  and  their  things  in  French,  and  so  they  have  since 
the  Normans  came  first  into  England.  Also  gentlemen's  children  be 
taught  to  speak  French,  from  the  time  that  they  be  rocked  in  their 
cradle  and  can  speak  and  can  play  with  a  child's  brooch." 


42  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

On  this  passage  the  English  translator,  John  Trevisa,  adds 
a  note  telling  us  that  the  schools,  in  spite  of  their  conserva- 
tism, had  given  up  their  use  of  French.  His  own  words 
are  as  follows : 

"This  manner  was  much  used  before  the  first  death  (1349),  and  is 
since  somedeal  changed;  for  John  Cornwall,  a  master  of  grammar, 
changed  the  lore  in  grammar  schools  and  construction  of  French  into 
English ;  and  Richard  Pencrich  learned  this  manner  of  teaching  of  him, 
and  other  men  of  Pencrich;  so  that  now,  the  year  of  our  Lord  a  thou- 
sand three  hundred  four  score  and  five,  and  of  the  second  king  Richard 
after  the  conquest  nine,  in  all  the  grammar  schools  of  England  children 
leaveth  French  and  construeth  and  learneth  in  English." 

72.  To  sum  up  the  history  of  the  spoken  language  in  the 
Middle  English  period,  it  may  be  said  that  French,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  conqueror,  was  used  for  a  time  by  the  upper 
classes,  especially  by  Normans  and  those  of  Norman  de- 
scent. Only  for  a  comparatively  short  time  was  French 
used  to  the  exclusion  of  English  even  by  the  upper  classes. 
The  Normans  themselves  soon  learned  English,  although 
continuing  to  learn  and  use  French,  as  scholars  all  over 
Europe  continued  to  learn  and  use  Latin.  Gradually  Eng- 
lish displaced  French,  not  only  as  the  language  of  daily 
intercourse  among  the  descendants  of  the  Normans  them- 
selves, but  also  as  the  official  language  of  England.  Finally, 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  conservatism  of  the  law  and 
the  conservatism  of  the  schools  gave  way  to  the  language 
of  the  people,  and  the  ascendency  of  Enghsh  was  complete. 

The  Written  Language 

73.  It  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding  sections  how 
English,  the  language  of  the  Teutonic  settlers  in  England, 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  43 

again  became  the  spoken  language  of  all  classes,  as  well  as 
the  language  of  Parhament,  of  the  schools,  and  of  the  courts 
of  law.  During  the  same  period  English  was  also  regaining 
its  place  as  a  written  language,  while  one  form  of  it  was 
becoming  established  as  the  standard  literary  language  for 
all  England.  The  gradual  steps  by  which  this  latter  fact 
came  about  are  of  the  first  importance  in  the  history  of 
English. 

74.  It  has  already  been  said  that  William  the  Conqueror 
did  not  attempt  to  supplant  the  English  speech.  Equally 
true  is  it  that  he  did  not  depose  English  from  its  place  as 
the  language  of  official  documents.  Before  the  Conqueror's 
time,  writs  and  other  acts  issued  by  the  government  had 
been  in  English  or  Latin.  WiUiam  I  continued  the  same 
practice,  never  using  French  in  official  documents,  so  far  as 
shown  by  those  preserved.  After  William's  reign,  the  use 
of  English  in  official  records  grows  rarer  until  the  reign  of 
Richard  I  (1189-1199),  the  first  king  after  the  conquest 
of  whose  reign  no  English  document  is  preserved.  Char- 
ters, however,  were  written  in  Latin  and  English  during  the 
two  centuries  following  iioo.  Moreover,  when  English  was 
displaced  for  a  time  in  public  documents,  it  gave  way,  not 
to  the  language  of  the  Norman,  but  to  Latin,  the  language 
of  learning  throughout  Europe. 

75.  That  the  Normans  did  not  make  French  an  official 
language  for  England  is  clear,  from  the  time  at  which  it 
began  to  be  used  in  official  documents.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  first  official  use  of  French  was  in  the  year  1215, 
a  century  and  a  half  after  the  conquest,  and  a  decade  after 
England  had  lost  Normandy.     Besides,  less  than  fifty  years 


44  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

later,  or  in  1258,  Henry  III  issued  his  famous  proclamation 
to  the  whole  nation  in  English,  as  well  as  in  Latin  and 
French,  the  languages  common  in  public  records.  This 
proclamation  related  to  the  Provisions  of  Oxford,  which, 
like  Magna  Charta,  were  a  bill  of  rights  wrested  from  the 
king.  The  "Provisions"  had  been  demanded  by  a  great 
popular  uprising,  and  it  was  peculiarly  fitting,  therefore,  that 
they  should  be  published  in  the  language  of  the  people. 

76.  It  is  true  that  French  was  largely  used  in  public 
documents  after  this  time,  but  this  fact  must  not  be  over- 
estimated. As  an  official  language,  French  was  not  intended 
for  the  majority  of  the  people,  but  for  a  comparatively  small 
official  class.  Besides,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  French 
was  the  language  of  half  the  courts  of  Europe,  and  it  would 
not  be  strange  if,  on  this  account  alone,  it  should  have  been 
used  in  England.  Certainly  this  later  and  more  extended 
use  of  French  clearly  indicates  that  the  foreign  tongue  was 
no  longer  regarded  with  hatred  as  a  badge  of  the  conqueror. 

77.  English  fully  regained  its  place  as  an  official  language 
in  the  last  part  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  This  is  shown  by  English  documents  still 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum  and  Public  Record  Office 
of  London.  Of  these,  the  oldest  private  records  belong  to 
the  year  1375,  the  oldest  London  documents  to  the  year 
1384.  The  earliest  English  petition  to  Parliament  also 
bears  the  latter  date.  The  earliest  English  will  is  of  the 
year  1387,  and  the  earliest  statutes  of  the  Guilds  written 
in  English  are  of  1389.  From  the  time  of  Henry  VI  (1422) 
private  records  are  commonly  in  English.  Petitions  and 
bills  in  Parliament  are  regularly  in  English  from  the  years 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  45 

1444  and  1445.  Only  in  the  statutes  did  French  continue 
to  be  used  until  1488,  after  which  they  also  are  always  in  the 
native  tongue. 

78.  The  language  of  correspondence  throws  some  light 
on  the  use  of  English,  and  on  the  relative  positions  of  Latin 
and  French.  Latin  was  commonly  used  in  correspondence 
during  the  earliest  Middle  English  period.  Later,  but  not 
before  the  last  of  the  thirteenth  century,  French  began  to 
be  used  in  letters.  Just  how  early  English  was  used  is  not 
certain,  but  a  private  letter  of  1399,  written  in  the  latter 
language,  is  still  preserved.  At  least  from  this  time,  English 
was  doubtless  the  usual  language  of  correspondence.  This 
would  seem  to  be  clear  also  from  the  Paston  Letters,  a  re- 
markable series  extending  from  1424  to  1508,  and  from  the 
fact  that,  during  the  fifteenth  century,  the  letters  of  kings, 
as  of  the  nobility  of  England,  are  in  English. 

79.  As  has  been  said,  §  62,  both  Latin  and  French  were 
used  in  literature  during  the  twelfth  century.  English  con- 
tinued to  be  written,  but  the  decadence  of  the  language  was 
more  marked  at  this  time  than  during  almost  any  century  of 
English  history  before  or  since.  This  was  natural  enough, 
owing  to  the  supremacy  of  the  Normans,  and  the  inevitable 
repression  of  the  English  national  life.  It  is  not  strange 
therefore  that  English  was  dialectal,  that  each  writer  used 
the  dialect  most  familiar  to  himself  and  those  of  his  own 
district,  and  that  there  was  no  attempt  to  reach  the  whole 
people  in  a  language  common  to  all.  Yet  even  this  dia- 
lectal literature  is  important  to  the  history  of  English. 

80.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  Southern  dialect,  the  direct 
descendant  of  West  Saxon,  the  standard  language  of  Old 


46  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

English  times,  should  continue  to  be  used  in  literature. 
Some  of  the  principal  works  in  this  dialect  are  the  Lives  of 

\/  St.  Katherine  and  St.  Juliana,  the  Ancren  Riwle,  or  *  Rule  of 
Nuns,*  and,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  Robert  of  Gloucester's 
Chronicle  and  Trevisa's  translation  of  Higden's  Polychroni- 
con.  Less  important,  because  not  representing  the  Southern 
dialect  so  accurately,  are  such  poems  as  the  Moral  Ode^  the 
Owl  and  Nightingale^  and  the  prose  treatise  called  Wooing 
of  our  Lord.  Kentish  has  few  important  representatives, 
but  the  Kentish  Sermons  and  Michael  of  Northgate's  Ayen- 
bite  of  Inwit,  or  *  Prick  of  Conscience,'  may  be  especially 
mentioned.  As  their  titles  suggest,  almost  all  of  these  works 
are  religious  in  character,  and  in  this  respect,  among  others, 
show  the  limited  scope  of  early  Middle  English  literature. 
8i.   To  the  Northern  dialect  belong  the  Metrical  Psaltery 

V  and  the  Cursor  Mundi,  a  verse  history  of  the  world.  There 
are  also  the  works  of  Richard  Hampole,  the  Prick  of  Con- 
>.  ;  science  and  the  Book  of  an  Anchoress,  as  well  as  a  series 
of  Metrical  Homilies.  The  most  noteworthy  works  in  later 
Northern  are  the  Songs  of  Lawrence  Minot,  and  the  York 
and  Towneley  Mysteries^  specimens  of  the  early  drama.  In 
the  fourteenth  century  also  a  national  literature  began  to 
be  written  in  Scotland,  but  this  may  be  best  considered  in 
connection  with  the  later  Hterature  of  that  country. 

82.  Far  more  important  to  a  history  of  the  English  lan- 
guage is  the  literature  of  the  Midland  dialect.  This  dialect 
includes,  as  has  been  said,  two  divisions.     Early  East  Mid- 

jland  is  represented  by  the  Peterborough  Chronicle  and  the 
Ormulum,  or  book  of  a  monk  named  Orm.  The  Ormulum 
is  a  poem  of  10,000  long  lines,  consisting  of  paraphrases 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  47 

of  passages  from  the  New  Testament  and  homilies  upon 
them.  It  is  important  mainly  because  of  the  unique  orthog- 
raphy of  the  writer,  which  throws  much  light  upon  the 
language  of  the  time  and  on  Middle  EngUsh  generally. 
Besides  these,  there  are  the  Bestiary,  a  fanciful  poem  on 
animals  and  their  assumed  characteristics,  and  a  poetical 
paraphrase  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  At  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century  Robert  of  Brunne  wrote  his  Chronicle 
and  Handlynge  Synne,  or  '  Manual  of  Sins.'  West  Midland 
of  the  early  period  is  represented  by  Layamon's  Brut,  a 
long  verse  history  of  England,  by  the  story  of  King  Horn, 
and  by  other  poems  of  a  popular  cast. 

83.  The  real  blossoming  of  literature  in  the  Midland 
dialect  was  during  the  fourteenth  century,  when  English 
was  becoming  the  language  of  the  court,  of  the  schools, 
and  of  legal  proceedings.  First  a  great  number  of  metrical 
romances  appeared  in  English  of  the  East  Midland  district. 
Some  of  the  most  important  are  the  tales  of  Havelok  the 
Dane,  Amis  and  Amiloun,  King  of  Tars,  and  Guy  of  War- 
wick. Next  came  a  great  revival  of  popular  alliterative 
poetry  in  the  west  and  northwest.  The  most  important 
works  of  this  revival  are  the  Piers  Plowman  of  Langland, 
and  the  Pearl,  Sir  Gawain,  and  other  works  of  an  unknown 
poet.  At  the  same  time  the  great  court  poet  Chaucer,  a 
native  of  London,  used  English  throughout  his  writings. 
In  friendly  rivalry  or  direct  imitation  of  his  great  contem- 
porary, Gower  gave  up  the  use  of  French  and  Latin  for  the 
mother  tongue.  Both  of  the  latter  writers  are  represent- 
atives of  the  East  Midland  dialect,  although  their  language 
shows  a  colouring  of  Southern  English.     Finally,  Midland 


^^ 


48  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

prose  is  represented  by  Mandeville's  Travels,  and  by  the 
writings  of  the  reformer  WycHf,  who,  late  in  hfe,  forsook 
Latin  for  the  mother  tongue  in  making  his  appeal  to  the 
people  against  the  clergy.  Before  the  end  of  the  century 
also  the  Bible  had  been  translated  into  English,  first  by 
Hereford  and  Wyclif  and  next  by  Purvey. 

84.  During  the  fourteenth  century  the  principal  Htera- 
ture  of  England  was  written  in  the  Midland  dialect,  clearly 
suggesting  that  Midland  was  soon  to  become  the  standard 
language  of  the  kingdom.  Moreover,  although  the  West 
Midland  dialect  was  largely  used  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century,  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  whole 
of  the  fifteenth  century  most  of  the  literature  of  England 
was  written  in  the  language  of  the  East  Midland  district. 
Still  more  exactly,  the  variety  of  East  Midland  which  was 
most  common  was  that  spoken  in  London,  the  chief  city 
of  the  East  Midland  district,  as  of  the  realm.  The  same 
variety  of  EngUsh  had  also  become  the  official  language 
of  England,  as  shown  by  its  constant  use  in  official  docu- 
ments. This  was  not  only  natural,  but  inevitable,  since 
London  itself  had  come  to  be  the  seat  of  national  life  and 
the  centre  of  national  influence. 

85.  The  changes  in  literary  English  during  the  fifteenth 
century  were  few,  at  least  as  compared  with  the  changes 
which  had  preceded  that  time.  Such  as  did  occur  were 
changes  due  to  the  general  tendency  toward  greater  uni- 
formity whic'''  had  already  affected  the  language.  It  has 
been  noted  that  the  language  of  Chaucer  and  Gower  was 
coloured  by  some  peculiarities  of  Southern  English,  pecul- 
iarities which  belonged  to  the  London  speech  of  their  time. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  PERIOD  49 

The  language  of  Wyclif,  on  the  other  hand,  was  coloured  by 
some  intermixture  of  Northern  forms.  But  the  writings  of 
Caxton,  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  show  the 
language  freed  from  the  dialectal  forms  of  his  predecessors, 
more  uniform  in  its  orthography,  and  correspondingly  neai'ST 
the  language  of  literature  in  modern  times. 

86.  The  gradual  advances  by  which  English  more  and 
more  fully  became  the  language  of  Hterature  may  be  seen 
in  the  writings  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  poetry,  Chaucer 
was  followed  by  such  disciples  as  Lydgate  and  Occleve. 
In  prose,  the  use  of  English  by  Wyclif  and  his  followers 
had  led  the  supporters  of  orthodoxy  to  adopt  the  language 
of  the  people.  The  first  of  these  champions  of  orthodoxy 
to  write  in  English  was  Reginald  Pecock.  About  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century  also,  Richard  Capgraye  wrote  a  prose 
Chronicle  in  English,  the  first  after  the  abrupt  close  of  the 
Saxon  Chronicle  in  1154.  Finally,  toward  the  end  of  the 
century  many  books  were  printed,  and  not  a  few  written, 
by  William  Caxton,  the  father  of  English  printing. 

87.  In  only  one  respect  could  English  be  said,  to  lack 
the  fullest  acceptance  as  the  language  of  literature.  Latin, 
which  had  been  the  common  language  of  scholars  through 
the  Middle  Ages,  continued  to  be  used  occasionally  long 
after  the  beginning  of  modern  times.  But  Latin,  as  a  lit- 
erary language  in  England,  shows  a  marked  decline  toward 
the  latter  part  of  the  Middle  English  period.  Many  a 
writer,  especially  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
used  both  Latin  and  English  at  different  times,  as  Wyclif, 
Gower,  Capgrave,  and  Fortescue.  But  the  language  of 
mediaeval  learning  soon  came  to  be  limited  to  certain  kinds 

IL 


50  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

of  books,  as  those  of  a  scholarly  character,  or  those  intended 
for  the  continent  as  well  as  for  England.  From  Caxton's 
time  English  was  the  only  literary  language  for  the  whole 
English  people. 

88.  To  summarize,  the  history  of  English  in  the  middle 
period  began,  much  as  in  Old  English  times,  as  the  history 
of  several  dialects,  none  of  which  had  any  real  ascendency 
over  another.  This  was  owing  to  the  conquest  and  over- 
throw of  the  English  kingdom,  and  the  consequent  use,  by 
the  ruling  class,  of  another  language  than  EngHsh.  For  a 
time,  the  language  spoken  by  the  conquerors  was  Norman 
French,  and  the  language  of  most  of  the  literature  either 
French  or  Latin.  Gradually,  however,  the  two  races  be- 
came one,  and  the  Normans  came  to  speak  and  use  the 
language  of  the  English  people.  At  the  same  time  English 
again  came  to  be  written  with  greater  frequency,  until  it  grad- 
ually displaced  French  entirely,  and  Latin  also  except  as 
the  latter  was  sometimes  preferred  by  scholars  in  scholarly 
treatises.  Lastly,  English  of  a  particular  variety,  the  East 
Midland  of  London,  became  the  prevailing  form  in  litera- 
ture and  the  standard  written  language  for  the  whole  English 
nation. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD 

89.  Compared  with  the  varied  vicissitudes  through  which 
Old  and  Middle  English  passed,  the  history  of  the  modern 
language  is  exceedingly  simple.  The  language  of  Lon- 
don has  remained  the  standard  form  since  its  establish- 
ment, subject  only  to  such  changes  as  are  incident  to  any 
language  in  the  course  of  its  history.  There  has  been  in 
modern  times  no  revolution  affecting  the  language  materially, 
no  conquest  by  a  foreign  nation  such  as  happened  to  the 
people  in  the  Old  EngHsh  period.  Nor  has  there  been  any 
such  radical  change  from  within,  as  that  by  which  West 
Saxon  English  in  the  oldest  period  was  finally  replaced  by 
Midland  English  as  the  standard  speech  of  later  times. 
Yet  English  has  by  no  means  been  stationary  in  the  modem 
period,  and  many  changes  of  a  general  nature  require  to  be 
chronicled.  There  are  also  dialects  of  Modern  English  to 
be  described,  although  these  are  not  relatively  so  important 
as  in  previous  periods.  Besides,  a  separate  literary  language 
existed  for  many  years  in  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  while 
during  the  modern  period  English  has  become  the  language 
of  a  new  nation  and  of  important  extensions  of  the  British 
empire. 

90.  The  estabUshment  of  London  English  as  the  stand- 

5« 


52  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

ard  language  of  England  came  about  so  gradually  that  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  formally  recognized  by  con- 
temporaries, or  by  writers  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  the 
following  century,  however,  there  is  at  least  one  distinct 
recognition  of  London  English  as  the  standard  literary 
form.  This  is  found  in  the  Arte  of  English  Poesie^  pub- 
lished in  1589  and  attributed  to  George  Puttenham.  The 
reference  occurs  in  incidental  directions  to  the  poet. 

"  Our  maker,  therefore,  at  these  days  shall  not  .  .  .  take  the  terms 
of  Northern  men,  such  as  they  use  in  daily  talk,  whether  they  be  noble- 
men or  gentlemen,  or  of  their  best  clerks  all  is  a  matter;  nor  in  effect 
any  speech  used  beyond  the  river  Trent,  though  no  man  can  deny  but 
that  theirs  is  the  purer  English  Saxon  at  this  day.  Yet  it  is  not  so 
courtly  or  so  current  as  our  Southern  English  is;  no  more  is  the  far 
western  man's  speech.  Ye  shall  therefore  take  the  usual  speech  of  the 
court,  and  that  of  London  and  the  shires  lying  about  London  within 
sixty  miles  and  not  much  above." 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  writer  uses  Southern  in  the 
general  sense,  the  language  of  London  being  Midland  more 
exactly. 

91.  The  general  use  of  English  in  the  flowering  of  our 
literature  during  the  Elizabethan  age  indicates  that  it  was 
already  established  as  the  permanent  medium  of  expression 
for  both  poetry  and  prose.  It  is  true,  that  such  a  writer  as 
Ascham  apologizes  for  using  English,  but  says  with  confi- 
dence "  that  when  the  best  of  the  realm  think  it  [English] 
honest  for  them  to  use,  I,  one  of  the  meanest  sort,  ought  not 
to  suppose  it  vile  for  me  to  write."  There  were  also  a  few 
such  favourers  of  Latin,  as  Bacon,  who  believed  that  "  these 
modern  languages"  would,  "at  one  time  or  other,  play  the 
bankrupt  with  books."     Indeed  Latin  continued  to  be  writ- 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  S3 

ten  by  scholars,  as  by  More,  Bacon,  Milton,  and  Newton. 
But,  as  in  the  last  of  the  Middle  English  period,  Latin  was 
generally  employed  in  order  to  reach  some  special  class  of 
readers  on  the  continent  as  well  as  in  England,  so  that  its 
use  in  no  sense  affected  English  as  the  language  of  a  dis- 
tinctively national  literature. 

92.  Although  the  standard  written  language  was  already 
estabHshed  at  the  beginning  of  the  modern  period,  English 
at  that  time  differed  considerably  from  EngHsh  to-day.  In 
particular,  the  tendency  to  simplification  of  forms  and  regu- 
larity of  usage  had  not  yet  brought  the  language  to  its  pres- 
ent state.  Many  irregularities  therefore  appear  in  early 
Modern  English,  as  may  be  seen  by  examination  of  the 
language  of  Caxton.  In  nouns,  for  example,  a  greater  num- 
ber had  irregular  plurals,  as  winter^  year,  in  *  three  hundred 
winter,^  'forty  year.^  Other  irregular  plurals  are  eyeriy 
hosen,  sometimes  shoon,  for  *  eyes,  hose,  shoes.'  The  adjec- 
tives long,  strong,  were  still  compared  by  the  use  of  the 
older  forms  lenger  —  lengest,  strenger — strengesi.  In  pro- 
nouns, to  illustrate  by  two  instances,  his  was  still  used  for 
its,  which  had  not  yet  appeared,  and  who  was  still  infre- 
quent as  a  relative.  Among  verbs  also,  especially  among 
strong  verbs,  a  greater  variety  of  forms  was  usual  than  at 
the  present  time.  Besides,  the  present  indicative  third 
singular  still  retained  the  ending  eth,  thus  differing  from  the 
modern  form.  Differences  in  syntax  and  idiom  might  also 
be  illustrated. 

93.  The  tendency  to  simplification  of  forms  and  regular- 
ity of  usage  in  early  Modern  English  was  pardy  unconscious, 
as  in  the  previous  periods,  partly  owing  to  a  definite  purpose 


S^  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

of  "  improving  "  the  language,  as  it  was  said.  English  and 
the  other  modern  languages  were  compared  to  their  disad- 
vantage with  classical  Latin.  At  the  same  time  it  was  con- 
ceived that  the  former  might  be  placed  on  a  level  with  Latin 
by  freely  adopting  Latin  words  and  by  imitating  the  rhetori- 
cal effects  of  Latin  writers.  This  curious  idea  originated  in 
Italy,  and  finally  reached  England  through  France.  On  this 
latter  account,  the  attempt  to  improve  English  included  the 
introduction  of  Romance,  as  well  as  Latin,  words  and  also 
the  imitation  of  Romance  writers. 

94.  The  purpose  of  improving  English  in  the  manner 
described  was  acknowledged  as  early  as  1533.  Sir  Thomas 
Elyot,  in  the  preface  to  The  Knowledge  which  maketh  a  man 
Wise,  refers  to  the  "strange  terms"  found  in  another  of  his 
books,  and  says :  "  I  intended  to  augment  our  English 
tongue,  whereby  men  should  as  well  express  more  abun- 
dantly the  thing  that  they  conceived  in  their  hearts  (where- 
fore language  was  ordained),  having  words  apt  for  the 
purpose,  as  also  interpret  out  of  Greek,  Latin,  or  any  other 
tongue  into  English  as  sufficiently  as  out  of  any  of  the  said 
tongues  into  another."  Elyot  also  speaks  of  "other  words 
late  comen  out  of  Italy  and  France  and  made  denizens 
among  us."  George  Pettie  in  15  81  approved  borrowing 
from  Latin  in  these  words :  "  It  is  indeed  the  ready  way  to 
enrich  our  tongue  and  make  it  copious ;  and  it  is  the  way 
all  tongues  have  taken  to  enrich  themselves."  In  1593, 
Thomas  Nash,  the  pamphleteer,  defended  his  borrowings 
from  several  foreign  languages,  on  the  ground  that  English 
contained  too  many  monosyllables. 

95.  On  the  other  hand,  a  second  class  of  writers  in  the 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  SV 

sixteenth  century  showed  a  purist  tendency  with  respect  to 
English.  These  writers  also  wished  to  see  English  placed, 
so  far  as  possible,  on  a  level  with  the  classic  tongues.  But 
they  felt  that  borrowing  of  words  from  the  classics,  from 
French,  and  later  from  Italian  and  Spanish,  was  rather  a 
corruption  of  the  speech  than  a  real  improvement.  One 
of  those  to  oppose  such  borrowing  was  Roger  Ascham, 
already  referred  to,  who  disapproved  of  "using  strange 
words  as  Latin,  French,  and  Italian,"  and  disagreed  "  with 
a  man  which  reasoned  the  EngUsh  tongue  to  be  enriched 
thereby."  Thomas  Wilson,  who  published  the  Arte  of 
Rhetorike  in  1553,  is  even  more  severe  upon  the  use  of 
foreign  words.  The  author  of  thie  Arte  of  English  Poesie, 
§  90,  also  belonged  to  the  same  purist  school.  In  the 
latter  work  he  writes  thus  of  the  corruption  of  the 
language : 

"Albeit  peradventure  some  small  admonition  be  not  impertinent, 
for  we  find  in  our  English  writers  many  words  and  speeches  amenable, 
and  ye  shall  see  in  some  many  inkhorn  terms  so  ill  affected,  brought 
in  by  men  of  learning  as  preachers  and  schoolmasters;  and  many 
strange  terms  of  other  languages  by  secretaries,  and  merchants  and 
travelers  and  many  dark  words,  and  not  usual  nor  well  sounding, 
though  they  be  daily  spoken  in  court." 

96.  Each  of  these  classes  of  writers,  however,  had  its 
share  in  the  development  of  English.  The  two  influences 
worked  together,  so  that  the  tendency  of  the  first  class  to 
adopt  foreign  and  newly  coined  words,  was  checked  by  the 
second  class,  while  the  latter  was  no  doubt  influenced  to 
some  extent  by  the  former.  That  the  purists  were  not 
narrow  extremists  is  shown  by  other  parts  of  their  works. 

ft 


56  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

For  example,  Wilson,  who  is  so  severe  upon  the  affected  use 
of  foreign  words,  says  in  another  place :  "  Now,  whereas 
words  be  received,  as  well  Greek  as  Latin,  to  set  forth  our 
meaning  in  the  English  tongue,  either  for  lack  of  store  or 
else  because  we  would  enrich  the  language,  it  is  well  done 
to  use  them,  and  no  man  therein  can  be  charged  for  any 
affectation  when  all  other  are  agreed  to  follow  the  same 
way."  Perhaps  no  one  has  put  the  matter  more  truly  for  a 
language  in  which  borrowed  words  are  common. 

/  97.  In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  another 
attempt  was  made  to  improve  the  English  language.  Eng- 
lish writers  of  this  time  looked  for  some  means  of  establish- 
ing the  language,  so  that  it  should  remain  unchanged  and 
thus  be  a  better  means  of  preserving  literature  to  future 
generations.     The  apparent  necessity  for  this  grew  out  of 

/the  revival  of  the  classics,  and  out  of  false  conceptions 
regarding  the  classical  languages.  It  was  believed,  for 
example,  that  Greek  had  remained  unchanged  from  Homer 
to  Plutarch.  Besides,  writers  of  Latin  imitated  the  style  of 
Cicero,  a  fairly  fixed  quantity,  and  were  esteemed  in  pro- 
portion as  they  caught  the  manner  of  the  great  Roman 
orator.  In  the  modern  languages,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
was  no  fixed  standard  to  be  imitated,  and  men  saw,  by 
comparing  the  language  of  one  period  with  another,  that 
there  had  been  great  changes  in  diction,  grammar,  and 
style.  They  feared,  therefore,  that  literature  which  was 
committed  to  such  an  unstable  medium,  would  soon  be- 
come antiquated  and  buried  in  libraries,  rather  than  read 
and  appreciated  by  posterity.  This  idea  of  the  instability 
of  the  modern  languages  early  led  to  the  establishment  of 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  57 

Academies  in  Italy  and  France,  in  order  to  set  a  standard 
and  prevent  change. 

980  The  proposition  to  establish  in  England  an  Academy 
like  those  of  Italy  and  France  was  often  made  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Perhaps  the  first  to  suggest  such  a  thing 
was  Edmund  Bolton,  who,  in  161 7,  proposed  a  grand  Royal 
Academy,  one  part  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  to  literature. 
This  was  even  before  the  establishment  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy (1635)  at  the  suggestion  of  Richelieu.  Milton,  though 
not  proposing  an  Academy,  wrote  in  the  highest  terms  of 
"  him  who  endeavours,  by  precept  and  by  rules,  to  perpet- 
uate that  style  and  idiom  of  speech  and  composition  which 
have  flourished  in  the  purest  periods  of  the  language." 
Dryden,  in  1663,  regretted  **  that,  speaking  so  noble  a 
language  as  we  do,  we  have  not  a  more  certain  measure 
of  it,  as  they  have  in  France,  where  they  have  an  Academy 
enacted  for  that  purpose  and  endowed  with  large  privileges 
by  the  present  king."  In  1679  he  again  favoured  an  Acad- 
emy in  these  words :  "  I  am  desirous,  if  it  were  possible, 
that  we  might  all  write  with  the  same  certainty  of  words, 
and  purity  of  phrase,  to  which  the  Italians  first  arrived  and 
after  them  the  French ;  at  least  that  we  might  advance  so 
far  as  our  tongue  is  capable  of  such  a  standard."  Yet 
Dryden  did  not  depreciate  English,  for  in  his  Essay  of 
Dramatic  Poesie  he  says  :  "  Our  language  is  noble,  full,  and 
significant ;  and  I  know  not  why  he  who  is  master  of  it  may 
not  clothe  ordinary  things  in  it  as  decently  as  the  Latin,  if 
he  use  the  same  diligence  in  his  choice  of  words." 

99.  The  proposal  to  establish  an  Academy  was  renewed 
in  the  eighteenth  century  by  Swift.     In  17 10  he  suggested 


^  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

that  the  Tatler  should  exercise  its  authority  as  censor,  "  and 

by  an  annual  index  expurgatorius  expunge  all  words  and 
phrases  that  are  offensive  to  good  sense."  In  February, 
y  171 2,  Swift  elaborated  his  idea  in  z.  Proposal  for  Correct- 
ing, Improving,  and  Ascertaining  the  English  Tongue,  which 
was  published  as  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Oxford.  In  one 
part  of  this  he  says  :  "  In  order  to  reform  our  language,  I 
conceive,  my  lord,  that  a  free,  judicious  choice  should  be 
made  of  such  persons  as  are  generally  allowed  to  be  best 
qualified  for  such  a  work  without  any  regard  to  quality, 
party,  or  profession.  These,  to  a  certain  number  at  least, 
should  assemble  at  some  appointed  time  and  place,  and  fix 
on  rules  by  which  they  design  to  proceed." 

100.  Meanwhile  Addison  had  taken  up  the  proposal  of 
Swift,  and  in  the  Spectator  for  August  4,  1711,  favoured 
"  something  hke  an  Academy  that,  by  the  best  authorities 
and  rules  drawn  from  the  analogy  of  languages,  shall  settle 
all  controversies  between  grammar  and  idiom."  In  the 
number  for  September  8  of  the  same  year  a  similar  wish 
was  expressed,  that  "certain  men  might  be  set  apart  as 
superintendents  of  our  language,  to  hinder  any  words  of  a 
foreign  coin  passing  among  us."  Later  in  the  century  the 
feeling  was  somewhat  different.  Johnson,  though  agreeing 
with  Swift  and  others  as  to  the  importance  of  establishing 
English,  rejected  the  idea  of  an  Academy,  the  estabhshment 
of  which  he  hoped  "  the  spirit  of  English  liberty  will  hinder 
or  destroy." 

loi.  These  proposals  with  regard  to  an  Academy  came 
from  the  purists.  They  were  vigorously  opposing  the  con- 
tinued introduction  of  foreign  words,  and  the  corruption,  as 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  59 

they  called  it,  going  on  in  the  language  itself.  Dryden  was 
theoretically  a  purist,  although  himself  using  many  foreign 
words.     Thus,  in  the  Defence  of  the  Epilogue ^  he  says  :  — 

"  As  for  the  other  part  of  refining,  which  consists  in  receiving  new 
words  and  phrases,  I  shall  not  insist  much  on  it.  It  is  obvious  that  we 
have  admitted  many,  some  of  which  we  wanted,  and  therefore  our 
language  is  the  richer  for  them,  as  it  would  be  by  importation  of  bullion; 
others  are  rather  ornamental  than  necessary;  yet  by  their  admission, 
the  language  is  become  more  courtly  and  our  thoughts  are  better 
dressed.  ...  I  cannot  approve  of  their  way  of  refining,  who  corrupt 
our  English  idiom  by  mixing  it  too  much  with  French:  that  is  a  sophis- 
tication of  language,  not  an  improvement  of  it;  a  turning  English  into 
French  rather  than  refining  English  by  French." 

102.  Other  writers  of  the  time  took  the  same  view. 
Butler,  the  author  of  HudibraSj  also  wrote  a  Satire  on  our 
Ridiculous  Imitation  of  the  French^  in  which  he  refers  to  the 
custom  of  borrowing  French  words  and  phrases  as  consid- 
ered meritorious.  Swift  thought  that  the  corruption  of  the 
language  was  due  to  two  classes,  the  pedants,  as  they  were 
called,  and  the  young  men  who,  "terribly  possessed  with 
the  fear  of  pedantry,"  as  he  says,  "run  into  a  worse  ex- 
treme, .  .  .  borrow  the  newest  set  of  phrases,  and,  if  tley 
take  a  pen  into  their  hands,  all  the  odd  words  they  have 
picked  up  in  a  coffee-house,  or  a  gaming  ordinary,  are  pro- 
duced as  flowers  of  style."  The  Spectator  also  wished  to 
"  prohibit  any  French  phrases  from  becoming  current  in  this 
kingdom,  when  those  of  our  own  stamp  are  altogether  as 
valuable." 

103.  With  the  conservatives,  in  their  influence  upon  lan- 
guage, must  be  classed  the  lexicographers.  English  lex- 
icography began   in   the   early   seventeenth   century;   but, 


y 


60  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

notwithstanding  occasional  references,  it  was  probably  no! 
an  important  factor  in  affecting  language  until  the  following 
century.  It  would  be  impossible  in  our  space  to  estimate 
the  effect  of  each  of  the  lexicographers  in  turn.  The  great- 
^  est  of  them  was  Samuel  Johnson,  whose  dictionary  appeared 
in  1755.  The  purpose  of  Johnson,  as  expressed  in  his  pub- 
lished Plan  (1747),  was  "  to  fix  the  English  language  "  ;  for 
Johnson  believed,  like  Swift,  that  Enghsh  might  be  rescued 
from  further  corruption,  and  prevented  from  further  change. 
Before  completing  his  great  work,  Johnson  seems  to  have 
partially  realized  the  impossibility  of  his  first  purpose,  for 
in  the  Preface  to  the  Dictionary^  he  admits  a  change  in 
his  views.  On  the  other  hand,  his  great  work  certainly 
acted  as  an  important  restraining  and  regularizing  influ- 
ence, while  it  did  still  more  in  fixing  the  orthography  of 
the  language. 

104.  To  the  lexicographers,  in  their  conservative  influence 
upon  English,  must  be  added  the  grammarians  and  rheto- 
ricians. The  oldest  English  grammar,  as  well  as  the  oldest 
treatise  on  rhetoric,  belong  to  the  sixteenth  century.  But 
these  early  works  were  very  fragmentary,  and  made  little 
attempt  to  distinguish  good  from  bad  usage.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  however,  English  grammarians,  by  approving 
certain  forms  and  excluding  others  as  dialectal,  became 
more  influential  in  preventing  change  within  the  language. 
At  the  same  time  the  writers  on  rhetoric  also  became  more 
numerous  and  more  important.  Besides,  the  rhetoricians 
broke  away  from  the  almost  exclusive  treatment  of  argu- 
mentation, in  which  former  writers  had  closely  followed 
Aristotle,  and  began  to  treat  many  individual  points  of  usage. 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  61 

They  thus  became  influential  in  establishing  regularity  in 
form  and  expression. 

105.  In  addition  to  these  direct  influences  upon  the  lan- 
guage, must  be  mentioned  the  more  indirect  influence  of 
the  increasing  literature  of  the  nation.  The  usage  of  writers 
in  one  age  is  imitated  by  those  of  a  following  time.  Thus 
literature  becomes  a  most  important  conservative  influence 
upon  the  form  and  manner  of  expression.  This  influence 
of  literary  form  was  especially  strong  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  such  stylists  as  Addison  came  to  be  com- 
monly read  and  imitated. 

The  Spoken  Language 

106.  The  last  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  also  notable 
for  attempts  to  set  up  a  standard  form  of  the  spoken  lan- 
guage. Early  English  dictionaries  gave  little  attention  to 
pronunciation  of  words.  A  beginning  was  made  by  Nathan 
Bailey,  who  marked  accent  in  the  Dictionary  which  he  pub- 
Hshed  in  1727.  Johnson  followed  Bailey  in  marking  accent 
only.  It  was  not  until  1773  that  particular  vowel  sounds 
were  indicated  in  the  Dictionary  of  William  Kenrick,  who 
thus  estabhshed  orthoepy  in  its  modern  sense.  The  cus- 
tom of  marking  pronunciation  was  followed  by  later  lexicog- 
raphers as  by  Perry  in  1775,  Sheridan  in  1780,  Walker  in 
1 791,  and  by  many  others  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Of 
those  named  the  most  important  was  Walker,  a  London 
elocutionist,  who  gave  special  attention  to  orthoepy  in  his 
Dictionary  and  has  since  been  closely  followed. 

107.  The  effect  of  this  attempt  to  establish  a  standard 
pronunciation  has  not  been   as  great   as  was  anticipated. 


62  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

The  dictionary  of  Walker  did  not  prevent  change  in  pro- 
nunciation, any  more  than  the  dictionary  of  Johnson  had 
prevented  change  in  the  written  form.  Still  the  effect  of 
setting  up  a  standard  pronunciation  has  been  to  retard 
natural  phonetic  changes,  and  to  prevent  the  use  of  marked 
dialectal  peculiarities  by  cultivated  speakers.  Spoken  Eng- 
lish has  thus  become  more  uniform  among  cultivated  people 
of  all  classes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  theory  of  the  older 
orthoepists  was  that  words  should  be  pronounced  as  they 
are  spelled.  Under  this  theory  some  irregularities  in  pro- 
nunciation have  been  introduced,  as  the  orthoepists  have 
tried  to  establish  some  pronunciations  which  had  no  his- 
torical or  phonetic  reason.  An  example  in  point  is  the 
word  won't  *will  not'.  The  o  in  this  word  represents  a 
former  u  sound,  developed  from  /  by  influence  of  the  pre- 
ceding w.  It  should,  therefore,  be  pronounced  like  the 
vowel  of  but,  not  like  o  in  dorCt.  The  latter  pronunciation 
is  due  wholly  to  the  spelling  and  to  the  wrong  analogy  set 
up  by  the  orthoepist.  The  tendency  of  the  theory  men- 
tioned above  has  been  to  make  pronunciation  conform  to 
some  of  the  anomalies  of  our  present  English  spelling. 

1 08.  During  the  nineteenth  century,  the  influences  affect- 
ing English  in  the  preceding  hundred  years,  the  schools, 
lexicographers,  grammarians,  and  rhetoricians,  have  been 
even  more  considerable  in  their  effect.  This  may  be  seen 
from  any  close  examination  of  literary  English  in  the  two 
periods.  In  addition  to  these,  there  is  one  tendency  in  the 
nineteenth  century  somewhat  different  from  that  affecting 
the  language  in  any  past  time.  Owing  to  a  new  interest 
in  the  older  literature,  especially  ballad  poetry,  at  the  end 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  63 

of  the  eighteenth  and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
there  has  been  a  revival  of  many  archaic  words,  particularly 
in  poetry.  This  may  be  considered  in  general  one  form 
of  the  purist  tendency  already  noticed  in  the  past  history 
of  English. 

109.  Illustrations  of  this  revival  of  older  words  may  be 
seen  in  the  poetry  of  the  whole  period,  from  the  time  of 
Coleridge  and  Wordsworth  to  that  of  Tennyson  and  Brown- 
ing. For  example,  Coleridge  used  such  words  as  eftsoons^ 
I  wis,  the  latter  not  originally  a  pronoun  and  verb,  but  an 
old  adverb  iwis  'certainly,'  which  was  misunderstood  by 
later  writers.  Tennyson  also  uses  such  older  words  as 
rathe  'early,'  adowii,  anear,  afween,  enow,  lief,  natheless, 
wot,  wist,  and  many  others.  Browning  shows  a  similar 
tendency,  many  of  the  words  used  being  not  only  old,  but 
odd  and  scarcely  likely  to  be  generally  adopted.  In  The 
Ring  a?id  the  Book,  for  example,  occur  cark,  clomb,  dubiety, 
endlong,  holpen,  quag,  repristination,  round  '  whisper,'  sib, 
smoothens,  smugly,  spilth,  and  others. 

no.  The  extreme  of  purism  is  seen  in  such  a  proposal 
as  that  of  William  Barnes,  the  Dorset  poet,  who  wished  to 
bring  the  English  speech  back  to  its  original  Teutonic  char- 
acter. In  his  grammar  of  English,  or  Outline  of  English 
Speechcraft,  he  uses  such  terms  as  time-taking  for  '  tense,' 
mark-word  of  suchness  for  '  2id]tci\wt,^  pitch-mark  for  'com- 
parison.' Such  an  attempt,  absurd  as  it  is,  rests  upon  the 
serious  beUef  that  there  is  something  pernicious  in  a  bor- 
rowed word,  even  one  of  long  standing  and  good  use.  That 
such  a  belief  rests  on  no  adequate  foundation  may  be  seen 
from  a  later  discussion. 


M  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

Dialects  in  Modern  English 

111.  The  literary  language  of  England  has  thus  far  been 
traced  through  the  modern  period  without  reference  to 
dialects.  Yet  the  elevation  of  a  standard  literary  language, 
based  upon  the  speech  of  London,  did  not  prevent  other 
dialects  from  continuing  to  exist  among  the  common  people. 
In  Britain  alone  there  are  still  six  important  dialect  divi- 
sions, without  including  Wales  or  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 
These  six  divisions  are  the  Southern,  including  the  older 
Southern  and  Kentish ;  tli^  Midland,  the  Eastern,  and  the 

^Western,  within  the  boundaries  of  the  older  Midland;  the 
-^Northern  and  the  Lowland,  included  within  the  district  of 
the  older  Northern  and  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland  over 
which  Northern  had  spread  in  Middle  English  times.  The 
exact  boundaries  of  these  may  be  seen  from  the  map  on  the 
opposite  page. 

112.  Owing  to  the  extent  to  which  standard  spoken 
English  has  been  cultivated  in  all  parts  of  the  island  of 
Britain,  these  dialects  are  found  mainly  among  the  peasant 
classes.  In  Scotland,  however,  a  broad  Scotch  English  is 
still  used  at  times  by  many  educated  people.  The  dialects, 
as  spoken  by  the  peasants  of  England,  are  so  unlike  that  a 
yeoman  of  one  district  would  often  have  difficulty  in  making 
himself  understood  by  a  yeoman  of  another.  Some  idea  of 
the  different  dialects  may  be  gained  from  their  use  in  litera- 
ture. Thus  Southern  is  represented  by  the  works  of  WiUiam 
Barnes  already  referred  to,  §  no,  and  by  passages  in  the 
novels  of  Blackmore  and  Hardy.  In  respect  to  dialect, 
George  Eliot's  Middlemarch  represents  northeast  Midland, 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD 


65 


ENGLISH  DIALECTS  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


66  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

and  Mrs.  Ward's  David  Grieve^  northwest  Midland,  while 
Tennyson's  Northern  Farmer  represents  the  Northern  divi- 
sion. The  Scottish  dialect  requires  more  extended  notice, 
since  it  has  had  a  literature  of  its  own,  distinct  from  the  lit- 
erature of  England,  and  from  ordinary  dialectal  works. 
Besides  these,  the  language  of  other  parts  of  the  British 
Empire  and  that  of  the  United  States  deserves  some  con- 
sideration. 

Lowland  Scotch 

113.  Lowland  Scotch,  the  English  of  the  south  of  Scot- 
land, is  an  outgrowth  of  the  Northern  dialect,  which  had 
spread  over  that  region  in  Middle  English  times.  It  did 
not  differ  materially  from  Northern  English,  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  although  there  had  been  an 
uninterrupted  series  of  Scottish  writers  from  the  early  four- 
teenth century,  the  period  of  Scottish  independence.  From 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  therefore,  to  the  union 
with  England  in  1603,  Lowland  Scotch  was  the  literary  lan- 
guage of  the  north.  After  the  union  with  England,  Scotch 
was  still  spoken  by  the  majority  of  the  people  of  Scotland, 
and  it  is  still  a  living  language,  although  among  the  educated 
a  variety  of  standard  English  is  also  used. 

114.  The  father  of  Scottish  poetry  was  John  Barbour, 
archdeacon  of  Aberdeen.  A  contemporary  of  Chaucer,  he 
had  half  completed  his  epic,  the  Bruce ^  in  1375.  Another 
epic  of  his,  the  Brut,  relating  the  descent  of  the  Scottish 
kings  from  the  Roman  Brutus,  has  not  been  preserved.  Next 
in  importance  was  Andrew  Wyntoun,  who  completed  about 
1420  the   Orygynale  Crony  kit  of  Scotland,    Among  other 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  67 

Scottish  poets  of  importance  were  James  I  (1394-1437), 
who  wrote  the  King's  Quhair  '  quire  or  book ' ;  William 
Dunbar  (1460-1530?),  one  of  the  greatest  Scottish  writers; 
Gawain  Douglas  (1474-15 22),  David  Lindsay  (1490?- 
1555),  and  King  James  VI,  James  I,  of  England  (1566- 
1625),  whose  poems  are  noteworthy  mainly  because  they 
were  written  by  a  king.  A  fuller  account  of  these,  and  of 
their  works,  belongs  rather  to  literature  than  to  the  history 
of  language. 

115.  The  variety  of  Lowland  Scotch,  which  was  finally 
elevated  to  the  position  of  literary  language,  was  that  spoken 
in  and  about  the  capital  city,  Edinburgh,  rather  than  the 
speech  of  the  extreme  southern  lowlands.  This  was  affected, 
in  the  course  of  its  history,  by  various  influences  from  with- 
out, as  the  Norse,  Celtic,  French,  Classical,  and  English,  of 
which  only  the  briefest  accounts  need  be  given.  The  Norse 
influence  was  probably  slighter  than  on  Northern  English 
proper.  The  Celtic  influence  was  somewhat  greater  than  on 
English,  since  Celtic  was  spoken  in  close  proximity  to  the 
Hterary  centre  for  a  longer  period  than  in  England.  For 
this  reason  a  considerable  number  of  Celtic  words  was  bor- 
rowed by  the  Scotch.  What  is  known  as  the  French  influ- 
ence was  due  to  that  close  union  of  Scotland  with  France, 
by  which  the  former  was  able  to  retain  her  independence 
for  so  many  years.  Owing  to  this  close  alliance,  many 
French  words  that  have  no  place  in  English,  entered  Low- 
land Scotch,  as  shown  for  example  by  the  poems  of  Bums. 

116.  The  Classical  influence  on  Lowland  Scotch  was  due 
to  the  Revival  of  Learning,  by  which  Scotland  was  as  directly 
affected  as  England.     Lastly,  Scotch  writers  were  constantly 


68  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

influenced  in  vocabulary  as  in  subject  by  the  literature  oi 
England.  This  influence  was  especially  strong  at  the  time  of 
the  Reformation,  since  the  leaders  of  the  movement  in  Scot- 
land were  in  direct  intercourse  with  the  English  reformers. 
There  was,  too,  no  Scotch  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  English  Bible  was  used  by  the  Reformers  in  Scotland. 
This  use  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  Catholic  party,  and 
was  actually  illegal  until,  in  1543,  by  act  of  Parliament,  "it 
was  made  free  to  all,  man  and  woman,  to  read  the  Scriptures 
in  their  own  tongue,  or  in  the  English  tongue."  The  litera- 
ture of  the  Elizabethan  age  also  affected  Scotland,  and  both 
of  these  influences  materially  aided  in  bringing  about  the 
adoption  of  English  as  the  literary  language  of  the  Scottish 
people. 

117.  It  was  said  above  that  the  Scottish  speech  still  re- 
mained after  the  Scottish  writers  had  begun  to  use  English, 
and  that  it  reappeared  in  popular  poetry.  In  fact,  Scotch 
experienced  a  strong  revival  in  the  ballad  and  lyric  poetry 
of  Ramsay,  Fergusson,  and  Burns.  Still,  these  poets  did 
not  use  the  vernacular  Scotch  in  its  purity,  but  rather  a  con- 
ventionalized form  made  up  of  Scotch  and  English.  This 
may  be  exemplified  from  some  of  the  poems  of  Burns,  by 
showing  the  exact  relationship  between  the  number  of  Scotch 
words  and  those  that  are  English,  or  Scotch  only  in  form. 
For  instance,  A  inarCs  a  man  for  a'  that,  contains  115  dif- 
ferent words,  of  which  only  18  are  not  EngHsh.  In  Duncan 
Gray  cam  here  to  woo,  the  different  words  in  which  number 
117,  there  are  only  30  words  which  are  Scotch.  In  Auld 
Lang  Syne,  out  of  80  words,  there  are  24,  and  in  Scots  wha 
hae,  out  of  100  words,  there  are  only  9  which  are  not  English. 


I 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  71 

of  a  separate  standard  for  Ireland.  Besides,  the  suggestion 
of  such  names  as  those  of  Goldsmith,  Sheridan,  and  Burke 
shows  that,  even  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Irishmen  con- 
tributed to  what  is  called  English  literature.  Yet  the  Eng- 
Hsh  of  the  common  people  in  Ireland  is  decidedly  dialectal. 
This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  certain  changes,  which  have 
affected  British  English  in  the  last  two  centuries,  have  not 
equally  affected  Irish  English.  An  older  pronunciation  is 
therefore  retained,  as  illustrated  by  such  words  as  tea,  wheats 
pronounced  tay,  whate,  as  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. No  doubt  Celtic,  too,  has  affected  the  English  of  the 
lower  classes. 

120.  English  is  also  the  language  of  the  British  colonies, 
in  so  far  as  it  has  displaced  the  native  tongues.  It  is  thus 
the  speech  of  the  dominant  classes  in  India,  British  America, 
Australia,  South  Africa,  and  in  many  smaller  parts  of  the 
British  Empire.  In  all  of  these  countries  the  literary  lan- 
guage of  England  is  recognized  as  the  standard,  although  the 
written  language  outside  the  mother  country  usually  differs 
in  details,  owing  to  inevitable  linguistic  changes.  Such 
differences  are  more  noticeable  in  the  spoken  language, 
although  as  yet  no  distinctive  dialects  can  be  said  to  exist 
in  any  of  the  English  colonies.  That  such  dialects  will 
appear  in  the  future  seems  certain  from  the  history  of 
language. 

American  English 

121.  English  is  not  only  the  language  of  the  British 
Empire,  but  also,  owing  to  the  separation  of  the  American 
colonies  from  the  mother  country,  the  language  of  a  new 


72  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 


nation.  It  is  important  to  consider,  therefore,  the  relation 
of  American  to  British  English  in  both  written  and  spoken 
forms.  Yet  the  lack  of  careful  studies  of  American  English, 
and  especially  of  its  relation  to  that  of  the  mother  country, 
makes  it  impossible  to  give  more  than  general  facts  and 
tendencies. 

122.  Historically,  American  English  is  based  upon  the 
language  of  England  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  great 
era  of  American  colonization.  This  foundation  of  seven- 
teenth century  English  has  been  variously  affected  from 
both  within  and  without.  From  without,  it  has  been  in- 
fluenced by  immigration  from  the  mother  country  and  other 
lands.  Yet  in  general,  people  from  England  as  from  other 
foreign  lands  have  adopted  the  usage  of  America,  so  that 
few  changes  can  be  directly  attributed  to  them.  Such 
changes  as  have  been  brought  about  by  their  influence  are 
mainly  in  the  direction  of  additions  to  the  vocabulary. 
Besides  this,  the  most  important  external  influence  has 
been  that  of  the  literature  of  England,  which  has  been  a 
potent  factor  in  making  the  literary  language  of  America 
conform  to  the  standard  literary  language  of  Britain. 

123.  The  influences  on  American  English  from  within 
have  been  more  numerous.  In  the  first  place,  American 
English  has  retained  words  and  meanings  of  words  which, 
though  once  common  in  England,  are  no  longer  used.  In 
many  parts  of  America  also,  there  has  been  a  retention  of 
an  older  pronunciation  than  that  now  found  in  the  mother 
country.  This  retention  of  older  forms  seems  to  be  due  to 
the  curious  fact  that  the  colony  usually  tends  to  preserve 
the  language  of  the  time  of  separation.     In  addition  to  this 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  73 

influence  must  be  reckoned  the  development  of  a  vigorous 
national  life,  which  has  led  to  considerable  changes  in 
vocabulary  at  least. 

124.  Besides  these  gomewhat  indirect  influences  from 
within,  there  have  been  others  of  a  more  direct  nature. 
The  first  of  these,  which  may  be  called  the  purist  tendency, 
has  asserted  the  necessity  of  conforming  to  British  standards, 
as  representing  the  only  correct  usage.  As  early  as  1789, 
Franklin  called  attention  to  "  innovations  "  in  the  English 
of  America.  John  Pickering,  who  made  the  first  collection 
of  "  Americanisms "  in  1816,  pretended  to  point  out  the 
"  corruptions,"  in  order  to  preserve  the  purity,  of  EngHsh. 
Worcester,  in  his  Dictionary  of  1830,  conformed  very 
largely  to  British  standards,  opposing  the  views  and  usages 
of  Webster.  Finally,  the  extreme  to  which  the  purist  has 
sometimes  gone  may  be  seen  from  the  epigrammatic  dictum 
of  Richard  Grant  White,  —  "  In  language  everything  dis- 
tinctively American  is  bad." 

125.  Opposed  to  the  purists  in  their  view  of  American 
English  are  those  who  have  seen,  or  have  thought  they  have 
seen,  the  beginning  of  a  separate  standard  for  America. 
The  first  of  these  was  Noah  Webster,  with  whom  American 
lexicography  began  in  the  first  decade  of  this  century. 
Webster  recognized  American,  as  distinct  from  British, 
usage,  and  an  American  pronunciation,  while  he  also  set 
up  an  American  orthography.  This  recognition  of  Ameri- 
can usage  was  especially  avowed  in  the  American  Diction- 
ary of  the  English  Language,  which  was  pubHshed  in  1828. 
Many  others  have  followed  the  lead  of  Webster  more  or 
less  completely.     The  more  conservative  of  these  base  their 


74  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

belief  in  the  eventual  recognition  of  a  somewhat  separate 
standard  for  America  on  the  inevitable  changes  in  language, 
and  the  impossibihty  that  two  nations  so  far  separate  as 
England  and  America  should  conform  in  all  respects  to  a 
single  standard  of  usage. 

126.  None  of  these  tendencies  has  entirely  replaced,  or 
overcome,  the  others.  American  literary  English  may  be 
said  to  be  the  product  of  all  of  them  working  together.  In 
the  first  place  there  is  substantial  agreement  in  the  literary 
standards  of  the  two  countries.  Some  minor  differences 
occur  in  grammatical  forms,  in  idiom,  and  in  usage.  Greater 
differences  are  found  in  the  orthography,  and  still  more 
considerable  divergences  are  noticeable  in  the  vocabularies 
of  the  two  nations.  Yet  the  influence  of  a  common  Htera- 
ture  in  the  past,  as  well  as  the  literary  relations  of  the  two 
countries  at  present,  will  no  doubt  keep  American  literary 
English  to  a  parallel  development  with  the  literary  lan- 
guage of  England.  Moreover,  as  America  produces  a  more 
extensive  literature  of  its  own,  there  will  probably  come  on 
both  sides  of  the  water  a  tolerance  of  characteristic  and 
reasonable  differences,  so  that  neither  people  need  regard 
its  somewhat  separate  standard  as  in  any  true  sense  superior 
or  inferior  to  the  other. 

127.  When  the  spoken  language  of  the  two  countries  is 
taken  into  account,  more  considerable  divergences  naturally 
appear.  Take,  for  example,  the  vocabularies  of  the  two 
peoples.  It  would  be  impossible  that  there  should  not  be 
differences  between  democracy  and  aristocracy  in  the  lan- 
guage of  governmental  relations.  Such  differences  are  too 
obvious  to  need  illustration.     But  the  differences  between 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  75 

a  democratic  government  and  one  with  an  hereditary  and 
titular  aristocracy  belong  not  only  to  governmental,  but  also 
to  social,  relations.  Besides,  social  customs  will  seldom  be 
exactly  the  same  for  any  long  period  in  two  widely  sepa- 
rated countries.  Then,  too,  the  cultivated  language  of 
every  country  is  constantly  receiving  some  additions  from 
the  language  of  common  life,  and  as  the  conditions  of  Hfe 
differ  in  the  vigorous  growth  of  America  and  the  more 
staid  conservatism  of  England,  so  the  additions  to  the  stand- 
ard language  from  this  source  must  differ  in  themselves. 

128.  These  differences  in  vocabulary  may  be  exemplified 
by  colloquialisms  of  the  two  countries.  Examples  are  Brit- 
ish clever,  ill,  knocked  up,  and  American  smart,  sick,  tired. 
Many  colloquial  words  have  different  meanings  in  the  two 
countries ;  as  nice,  which  means  *  small,  delicate,'  in  Britain, 
*  agreeable  '  in  America ;  fix,  which  means  *  establish  '  in 
Britain,  'arrange,  repair,'  in  America;  quite,  used  in  the 
sense  of  *  entirely '  in  Britain,  but  in  the  sense  of  *  very '  in 
America.  The  divergences  in  the  spoken  language  of  the 
two  countries  are  more  considerable  when  we  examine 
particular  phases  of  life.  Take  for  instance  the  nomencla- 
ture of  railway  travel.  Compare  the  following  pairs,  the 
first  of  which  is  American,  the  second  British  in  each  case  : 
Engineer —  driver;  fireman  —  stoker ;  conductor — guard; 
baggage- car — van;  baggage  —  luggage;  trunk — box;  check 
—  register;  car — carriage  ;  track  —  line;  freight- train  — 
goods-train  ;  to  switch  —  to  shunt. 

129.  As  to  pronunciation,  no  American  dictionary  now 
attempts  to  follow  British  usage  exactly.  Many  examples 
might  be  noted,  as  the  large  classes  of  words  with  vowels 


76  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

like  those  in  asky  half,  path,  dance,  and  long.  In  some 
cases  in  which  the  standard  is  nominally  the  same,  Ameri- 
can usage  does  not  follow  the  dictionary,  as  in  the  great 
number  of  words  like  hot,  not,  etc.  America  differs  from 
England,  also,  in  not  recognizing  the  speech  of  any  one 
locality  as  standard.  The  only  standard  recognized  in 
America  is  that  of  dictionaries,  and  these  attempt  to  fol- 
low, not  one  locality,  but  the  best  usage  of  the  country  as  a 
whole.  The  standard  thus  set  up  is  more  artificial  than  if 
the  speech  of  a  particular  locaUty  were  chosen,  and  partly 
for  this  reason  the  dictionaries,  influential  as  they  are,  have 
not  been  able  to  counteract  considerable  dialectal  diver- 
gence. In  time,  perhaps,  the  speech  of  one  or  more  locali- 
ties may  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  standard  by  all  good 
speakers. 

130.  In  one  other  important  respect  American  English 
differs  from  the  modern  language  of  England.  Spoken 
English  throughout  America  is  more  uniform  among  all 
classes,  and  there  are  no  such  strongly,  marked  peasant  dia- 
lects as  in  England.  This  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact,  that 
the  language  originated  in  the  fairly  homogeneous  middle 
class  of  English  society,  and  that,  since  its  transplanting  to 
America,  it  has  not  had  time  to  break  up  into  widely  diverse 
dialects.  Yet,  as  pointed  out  by  Whitney^  nearly  thirty  years 
ago,  we  can  by  no  means  safely  say  that  there  are  no  dialects 
in  America.  Although  there  has  been  little  careful  study  in 
this  field,  three  great  divisions — the  east,  the  west,  and  the 
south  —  may  be  said  to  have  characteristic  differences,  not 
only  in  the  language  of  the  uneducated,  but  also,  to  some 

1  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language,  p.  174. 


THE  MODERN  ENGLISH  PERIOD  77 

extent,  in  that  of  the  educated.  Of  these  three  great  divi- 
sions, the  most  pronounced  dialects  are  those  of  New  Eng- 
land for  the  east,  the  upper  Mississippi  valley  for  the  west, 
and  perhaps  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  for  the  south.  It  is 
also  true  that  when  the  speech  of  the  uneducated  alone 
is  taken  into  account,  the  dialectal  peculiarities  are  more 
numerous- and  more  marked. 


The  Spread  of  English 

131.  Before  closing  this  general  survey  of  English  in 
modern  times,  the  spread  of  the  English  language  must  be 
noted  as  one  of  the  most  significant  facts  of  language  his- 
tory. How  many  of  the  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutes  origi- 
nally settled  in  Britain  can  never  be  known.  At  the  time 
of  Elizabeth,  however,  EngHsh  was  spoken  by  at  least  five 
million  people.  At  present  it  is  the  language  of  consid- 
erably more  than  one  hundred  million  people,  a  larger 
number  than  has  ever  used  a  single  homogeneous  speech. 
Formerly  also  English  was  spoken  only  by  the  inhabitants 
of  Britain  and  her  colonies.  In  the  nineteenth  century, 
English  has  spread  to  many  foreign  countries  as  the  lan- 
guage of  trade,  while  the  literature  of  England  is  read  by 
the  people  of  many  nations  which  do  not  use  the  English 
speech. 

132.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  historian  of  language  to  chron- 
icle what  has  taken  place  in  the  past,  rather  than  to  suggest 
what  may  come  in  the  future.  Yet  the  extension  of  English 
in  the  past  naturally  suggests  the  possibility  of  its  further 
extension  in  the  future.     Benjamin  Franklin  expressed  the 


78  STANDARD  LANGUAGE  AND  DIALECTS 

opinion  in  his  Autobiography ^  that  English  might  sometime 
take  a  place  second  only  to  French  in  general  use.  The 
prediction  has  often  been  made  in  the  present  century  that 
English  will  eventually  become  the  universal  language  of  the 
world.  The  opinion  of  Franklin  has  certainly  been  more 
than  realized.  The  second  prediction  is  one  which  ex- 
presses at  least  a  possibility.  Yet  so  largely  is  language  a 
matter  of  convention,  that  to  predict  the  universality  of  one 
form  or  another  would  require  a  knowledge  of  the  future 
thought  and  feeling,  the  future  rank  and  condition  of  all 
nations.  Such  a  prediction  is  therefore  scarcely  more  than 
idle  speculation. 


Ill 

THE   ENGLISH   VOCABULARY 
CHAPTER  VI 

THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT 

133.  By  a  history  of  the  English  vocabulary  is  meant 
a  history  of  the  general  changes  which  have  affected  the 
native  word  stock,  as  distinct  from  those  that  have  affected 
the  sounds  and  inflections  of  words.  In  considering  such 
changes  in  such  a  language  as  English,  two  classes  of 
words  are  to  be  taken  into  account,  —  the  native  and  the 
borrowed  word.  To  the  first  element  belong  the  original 
words  brought  over  from  the  continent  by  our  Teutonic 
forefathers,  as  well  as  those  that  have  been  formed  from 
them  by  native  changes.  To  the  second  element  belong 
those  words  which  have  been  borrowed  from  the  various 
languages  with  which  the  English  people  have  come  in 
contact,  together  with  those  formed  from  them  since  the 
period  of  borrowing.  While  these  two  elements  have  usu- 
ally been  assimilated  to  one  another  in  English,  each  has 
in  some  respects  a  separate  history.  The  native  element 
naturally  merits  the  first  attention. 

134.  When  the  Teutonic  peoples  came  to  Britain  their 
vocabulary  was  in  the  main  a  homogeneous  one ;  that  is, 

79 


80  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

it  had  been  but  slightly  affected  by  foreign  influences. 
It  consisted  almost  wholly  of  words  that  had  been  once 
common  Teutonic,  so  that  most  of  them  appear  in  some 
of  the  other  Teutonic  languages.  This  was  true,  except 
as  English  had  naturally  kept  some  words  which,  for  various 
reasons  of  usage,  had  not  been  retained  by  the  other  lan- 
guages of  the  Teutonic  group.  Besides,  the  vocabulary  of 
Old  English  times  included  some  words  which  had  been 
formed  after  the  separation  of  the  English  from  their  Teu- 
tonic relatives  on  the  continent. 

135.  The  special  process  by  which  English  of  the  oldest 
period  increased  its  vocabulary  was  word  composition, 
the  process  common  to  all  the  Indo-European  languages. 
Words  were  compounded  in  one  of  two  ways,  either  by  the 
union  of  independent  words,  or  by  the  use  of  prefixes  and 
suffixes.  There  is  in  reality  no  strict  dividing  line  between 
these  two  means  of  word  formation,  because  all  prefixes  and 
suffixes  are  supposed  to  have  been  independent  words  at 
one  time,  and  some  of  them  were  so  used  even  in  Old 
English.     Nevertheless  the  classification  is  convenient. 

136.  The  freedom  with  which  Old  English  formed  com- 
pounds from  independent  words  may  be  illustrated  by  some 
particular  series.  For  example,  the  word  land  was  part  of 
at  least  sixty-three  compounds  in  Old  English,  while  the 
word  even  '  evening '  was  used  in  twenty-six,  and  life  in 
twenty-seven,  compounds.  These  compounds  were  of  the 
three  classes  —  nouns,  adjectives,  and  verbs.  The  expres- 
siveness of  some  of  them  may  be  illustrated  by  some  which 
have  not  been  preserved  to  modern  times,  as  life-busy,  life- 
care,  life-day y  life-fast  *  having  Hfe,'  life-ward  'guardian  of 


THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  81 

life/  life -way,  life-well  *\\ym%  spring,'  life-win  *joy  of  life. 
These  are  typical  examples.  Besides,  there  must  have  been 
many  compounds  once  used,  but  not  now  known  because 
not  found  in  any  relic  of  the  older  literature. 

137.  In  addition  to  compounds  of  independent  words, 
compounds  were  also  formed  by  the  use  of  prefixes  and 
suffixes.  Some  idea  of  the  number  of  Old  English  prefixes 
may  be  gained  from  the  following  list :  a-,  and-,  afler-y 
be-,  ed-,  for-,  ford-  (forth),  ge-,  mid-,  mis-,  of,  on-,  or-, 
od-  (oth),  to-,  un-,  under-,  up-,  with-,  wan-.  Many  of 
these  were  used  in  forming  more  than  one  class  of  words, 
as  nouns,  adjectives,  verbs,  so  that  the  number  of  such 
compounds  was  considerable.  The  Old  English  suffixes 
were  also  numerous.  The  following,  among  others  less 
frequent,  were  used  in  forming  nouns :  -cen  *  kin,'  -dom 
*dom,*  -en,  -ere  *tx,\-estre  *ster,'  -had  'hood  (head),'  -ing, 
-ling,  -ness,  -scipe  *  ship.'  The  Old  English  suffixes  forming 
adjectives  were  -ede  *  ed,'  -en,  -feald '  fold,'  -full,  -ig  *  y,'  -isc 
'  ish,'  -leas  '  less,'  -Be  *  ly,'  -sum  *  some,'  -iveard  *  ward.' 
Among  verb  suffixes  were  -nian,  -sian,  -l^can,  as  in  fast-en, 
clean-se,  know-ledge  (ME.  knowlechen).  There  were  also 
adverbial  suffixes  which  were  connected  with  inflectional 
endings  of  nouns  and  adjectives. 

138.  Some  idea  of  the  richness  and  flexibility  of  the  Old 
English  vocabulary  may  be  gained  by  the  following  com- 
parison. In  the  great  epic  poem  Beowulf,  which  consists 
of  less  than  thirty-two  hundred  lines,  there  are  nineteen 
synonyms  for  '  ocean,'  nine  for  '  ship,'  and  eleven  for 
*  sword.'  These  are  all  simple  words.  In  addition,  there 
are  twenty-three  compound  words  used  for  '  ocean,'  twelve 


V 


82  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

for  'ship,*  and  eighteen  for  'sword.'  These  are  all  true 
compounds  also,  and  do  not  include  descriptive  phrases 
made  up  of  a  genitive  and  a  noun,  of  which  there  are  at 
least  ten  for  the  idea  of  'ocean.' 

139.  In  addition  to  word  composition,  the  principal 
process  by  which  the  vocabulary  was  increased  in  Old 
English  times,  a  less  important  means  of  growth  must  be 
noted.  The  word  stock  of  a  language  is  indirectly  in- 
creased by  any  process  which  tends  to  form  two  words 
from  one.  In  the  Old  English  period  doublets  were  indi- 
rectly formed  from  single  roots  by  an  important  phonetic 
process  called  mutation,  or  change  of  root  vowel,  §  250. 
Mutation  is  illustrated  by  such  words  as  man^  foot,  goose, 
with  their  plurals,  which  have  different  vowels,  as  men,  feet, 
geese.  The  latter  examples  are  connected  by  inflection. 
In  the  case  of  words  not  so  connected,  however,  the  mu- 
tated and  unmutated  forms  soon  came  to  be  practically 
separate  roots,  from  each  of  which  might  be  formed  a 
separate  series  of  derivatives.  Examples  of  modern  words 
thus  connected  are  sale  —  sell,  tale  —  tell,  long — length,  full 
— fill,  lode  —  lead,  dole  —  deal,  food — feed,  blood — bleed, 
grow  — green,  proud — pride} 

Changes  in  the  Native  Element  since  Old  English  Times 

140.  The  changes  that  have  affected  the  native  element 
in  tTie  English  vocabulary  since  Old  English  times  are  prin- 
cipally two,  growth  and  decay,  changes  that  affect  the  word 

1  The  relation  of  mutation  to  increase  of  the  vocabulary  was  wholly  indi- 
rect.   It  was  never  a  direct,  or  conscious,  means  of  forming  new  words. 


THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  8i 

Stock  of  all  languages  in  the  course  of  their  history.  The 
slightest  examination  of  any  Old  English  work  shows  that, 
while  many  of  the  older  words  now  exist  in  somewhat  dif- 
ferent forms,  many  have  been  entirely  lost.  This  loss  of 
words  is  partly  a  natural  process,  partly  a  change  produced 
by  the  various  external  influences  that  have  affected  Eng- 
lish. The  first  is  common  to  all  languages,  since  changes 
in  men's  thought  and  feeling,  as  well  as  in  the  material 
things  about  them,  require  new  words  for  expression.  The 
second  is  a  more  artificial  process,  and  has  differently 
affected  different  languages. 

141.  The  most  considerable  losses  to  native  English 
words  have  undoubtedly  resulted  from  such  external  influ- 
ences. For  example,  conversion  to  Christianity  brought  a 
new  religion  to  England.  As  many  of  the  words  used  in 
the  rehgion  of  the  Teutons  were  unsuited  to  Christianity, 
they  were  displaced  by  words  introduced  from  other  lan- 
guages by  Christian  teachers.  Yet  some  of  the  older  words 
were  retained  in  modified  meanings,  as  bless,  Easter,  ghosf, 
God,  heaven,  lent,  or  new  compounds  of  native  words  were 
made,  as  gospel,  Lady  day.  Similar  losses  have  occurred  in 
words  referring  to  governmental  relations,  owing  to  the  con- 
quests of  the  Danes  and  the  Normans.  While  such  native 
words  as  king,  sheriff,  alderman,  are  still  used  in  older  or 
modified  meanings,  a  multitude  of  words  for  governmental 
relations  have  been  borrowed  by  EngHsh.  Many  other 
examples  might  also  be  given  of  similar  losses  to  the  native 
element  by  reason  of  external  influences. 

142.  Losses  of  native  words  have  been  especially  nu- 
merous in  the  case  of  compounds.     For  example,  of  the 


/ 


84  THE  ENGLISH    VOCABULARY 

sixty- three  compounds  of  land  mentioned  in  §  136,  only 
two,  landlord  and  landmark^  are  in  ordinary  use  to-day, 
although  two  or  three  others  are  found  in  the  older  modern 
literature.  Of  the  twenty-six  compounds  of  even,  only  two, 
evensong  and  eventide^  remain  in  occasional  use,  while 
lifelesSf  lifelike^  livelihood  are  the  only  compounds  of  life 
now  left  of  the  twenty-seven  once  existing  in  the  language. 
Great  losses  have  also  occurred  in  words  formed  by  the  use 
of  prefixes  and  suffixes.  For  instance,  although  there  were 
many  compounds  in  Old  English  with  the  prefixes  and-,  or-y 
and  mid-,  only  one  of  each,  answer,  ordeal,  midwife,  now 
remains.  (Jl  some  of  the  other  older  prefixes  not  a  single 
example  is  left  in  Modern  English. 

143.  With  the  loss  of  compounds  since  Old  English 
times,  the  capability  of  forming  compounds  has  also  been 
partially  lost.  Yet  this  Teutonic  method  of  increasing  the 
vocabulary  has  never  entirely  disappeared.  Many  new 
compounds  have  been  formed  since  the  oldest  period,  and 
by  such  compounds  the  word  stock  of  English  has  con- 
tinued to  be  enlarged  in  all  periods.  The  difference  in  this 
respect  between  the  earlier  and  later  periods  is,  that  since 
Old  English  times  word  composition  has  not  been  the  prin- 
cipal means  of  increase  in  the  number  of  words. 

144.  That  the  process  of  forming  compound  words  has 
continued  to  be  an  important  source  of  growth  to  the  Eng- 
lish vocabulary,  may  be  shown  from  many  examples.  For 
instance,  the  word  life,  which  has  been  already  used  in 
illustrating  older  compounds,  has  become  a  part  of  many 
compounds  not  found  in  the  Old  English  dictionaries. 
Examples  are  lifeblood,  lifeboat^  lifeful,  lifehold,  lifelong,  life- 


^  THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  85 

mate,  lifesomey  lifespring,  lifestring,  lifetime.  These  are  as 
close  compounds  as  any  formed  in  Old  English  times.  In 
addition,  there  are  many  compounds  still  written  with  a 
hyphen,  as  life-giving,  life-preserver,  life-saving,  life-size,  life- 
weary.  Some  of  these  examples  are  poetic  and  rare,  but 
all  occur  in  literature  of  the  modern  period.  Besides,  some 
of  the  older  prefixes  and  suffixes  are  still  used  in  the  forma- 
tion of  compound  words. 

145.  Moreover,  there  are  many  strict  compounds,  as 
indicated  by  inflection  and  syntax,  which  are  not  marked 
by  any  sign  of  union.  Many  of  these  are  not  even  recog- 
nized by  the  dictionaries,  still  less  by  English  speakers. 
The  word  life,  for  example,  forms  such  unmarked  compounds 
as  life  buoy,  life  car,  life  estate,  life  guard,  life  insurance, 
life  line,  life  rate,  life  school,  and  many  others.  Similar 
unmarked  compounds  occur  in  the  case  of  many  verbs,  to 
which  various  adverbs  are  appended  in  ordinary  usage. 
For  example,  the  verb  look  forms  true  compounds  in  such 
phrases  as  look  at,  look  away,  look  in  {into),  look  out,  look 
up,  and  others.  In  all  such  cases  the  adverb  is  a  virtual 
suffix,  since  it  is  indispensable  to  the  meaning  and  syntax 
of  the  verb. 
j  146.  It  was  said  that  in  Old  EngHsh  times  the  vocabu- 
lary was  indirectly  increased  by  the  phonetic  change  called 
mutation,  §  139.  Less  important  phonetic  changes  since 
Old  EngHsh  times  have  also  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a 
few  doublets.  For  example,  owing  to  slight  phonetic  influ- 
ences such  doublets  have  been  formed  as  emmet — ant, 
dent — dint,  quid — cud,  quitch  —  couch  in  quitchgrass  — 
couchgrass.     Doublets  due  to  diff'erence  in  stress  are  off—* 


86  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

off  than  —  then,  thorough  —  through,  too  —  to.  Colloquial 
doublets  due  to  the  same  cause  are  will — 7/,  had — V/, 
will  not — won't,  and  many  others.  Occasionally  doublets 
are  the  result  of  borrowing  from  another  dialect  than  that 
from  which  standard  English  has  developed.  An  example 
is  fat —  vat  '  a  vessel,'  in  which  the  first  is  the  true  Mid- 
land form,  while  the  second  has  been  borrowed  from  the 
Southern  dialect,  §-  65. 

147.  In  addition  to  growth  and  decay,  which  have  so  far 
been  illustrated  in  the  history  of  the  native  element,  there 
are  certain  minor  changes  which  affect  in  other  ways  the 
vocabulary  of  any  language.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
of  these  is  the  obscuration  of  compounds,  or  loss  of  identity 
in  the  separate  parts,  which  has  resulted  mainly  from  loss 
of  stress.  The  change  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  one 
branch  of  the  Indo-European  family  or  indeed  to  the  family 
itself.  The  theory  of  inflectional  forms,  for  example,  sup- 
poses original  roots  to  which  have  been  added  suffixes  that 
were  once  independent  words.  These  were  later  modified 
by  the  same  processes  that  have  changed  the  form  of  com- 
pounds in  English.  Even  in  Old  English  the  suffixes  -donty 
'hoodf  -ship,  were  independent  words,  although  they  have 
lost  this  character  since  Old  English  times. 

148.  English  has  many  of  these  obscure  compounds,  a 
few  of  which  will  suffice  for  illustration.  Some  still  preserve 
a  syllable  for  the  word  obscured,  as  bridal,  OE.  bryd-ealu 

*  bride-feast ' ;  brimstone^  ME.  brenston  '  burning-stone  * ; 
cranberry  for  *craneberryy  like  German  Kranbeere.  Three 
common  words  of  the  same  sort  are  daisy,  OE.  dceges-eage 

*  day's  eye ' ;  darling,  OE.  deorling,  allied  to  English  dear; 


THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  87 

and  starboard^  OE.  sfeorbord  'steering-side.*  Goodbye  is 
a  familiar  case  of  an  obscure  compound.  The  word  stands 
for  the  formula  '  God  be  wi*  ye/  or  possibly  for  '  God  be 
by  ye.'     The  word  God  also  occurs  in  gossip,  ME.  godsib 

*  related  in  God,  a  sponsor/  possibly  also  in  gospel  *  God's 
spell  (story).'  Even  greater  obscuration  is  seen  in  hussy, 
OE.  huswlf  '  housewife ' ;  woman,  OE.  wlfman ;  orchard, 
OE.  ortgeard  'plant  yard.* 

149.  Other  obscure  compounds  are  now  monosyllabic, 
one  or  more  syllables  having  been  entirely  lost.  An  ex- 
ample of  this  sort  is  lord,  OE.  hlaford <^  *hla,f-weard^  'loaf 
ward,'  the  syllable  hldf  also  occurring  in  lady,  OE.  hlaf-dige 

*  loaf-knead er.'  The  word  yes  is  for  yea  so,  OE.  gese  i^ge- 
swa),  while  world  is  made  up  of  wer '  man '  and  celdu  '  age,' 
so  that  it  originally  meant '  the  age  of  man.' 

150.  When  a  compound  is  obscured  and  the  original 
meaning  changed,  a  new  compound  may  be  set  up  with  the 
meaning  of  the  older  word.  The  language  is  thus  enriched 
by  a  new  word.  Of  this  linguistic  fact  there  are  many  ex- 
amples in  English.  To  illustrate,  housewife  is  a  new  com- 
pound with  the  same  meaning  that  hussy  (<  OE.  hus-wlf) 
originally  possessed,  the  latter  having  lost  the  older  idea. 
Other  examples  are  lively  —  lifelike,  livelong  —  lifelong. 
Somewhat  similar  is  spider-web  beside  cob-web,  since  in  the 
latter  case  the  older  meaning  of  cob  {cop)  '  spider '  has  been 
wholly  lost. 

151.  Another  change  in  vocabulary  is   that   by  which 

1  The  sign  <  means  '  from,  or  derived  from.'  A  word  with  a  star  before 
it  is  a  theoretical  form.  It  does  not  exist  in  the  language,  .but  must  be 
assumed  in  order  to  account  for  a  form  which  is  found. 


88  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

homonyms  are  produced.  Homonyms  are  words  from  dif- 
ferent roots  which,  by  various  changes,  have  come  to  have 
the  same  phonetic  form.  The  term  is  often  incorrectly 
limited  to  words  which  have  the  same  written  form,  as  bear 
vb.  and  sb.  ;  but  bare  the  adjective  is  also  a  homonym  of 
these  two.  The  number  of  homonyms  in  English  is  consid- 
erable. The  examples  already  quoted,  bear  sb.,  bear  vb., 
bare  adj.,  are  all  Teutonic  words.  Other  Teutonic  homo- 
nyms are  blow  vb.,  blow  sb. '  flower,'  blow  *  stroke  ' ;  can  vb., 
can  sb. ;  hide  vb.,  hide  *  skin,'  hide  *  measure  of  land.' 

152.  Some  purely  English  homonyms  are  due  to  confu- 
sion of  forms,  or  contamination.  Thus,  abide  '  await  for '  is 
the  proper  phonetic  descendant  of  OE.  abidan,  but  abide 
'  suffer '  is  from  OE.  abycgan  '  pay  for,'  ME.  abyen.  So  bid 
*  pray '  and  bid  '  command '  show  confusion  of  two  verbs, 
OE.  biddan  and  beodan,  §  431.  In  many  cases  homo- 
nyms result  from  borrowing  a  word  similar  in  form  to  one 
of  native  origin ;  but  the  discussion  of  these  and  of  homo- 
nyms exclusively  foreign  belongs  to  a  consideration  of  the 
foreign  element. 

153.  On  the  other  hand,  homonyms  sometimes  lose  their 
identity  by  confusion  of  meaning.  The  word  ooze  (formerly 
wooze)  combines  the  meanings  of  two  older  words,  OE. 
wos  '  juice '  and  was  '  pool,  slime,'  which  became  homonyms 
in  Middle  English.  So  Ughl  includes  an  older  word  mean- 
ing *  close,  thick,  strong,'  and  one  meaning  *  quickly,'  as  in 
the  expression  'run  as  lighl  as  you  can.'  Sometimes  also 
contamination  of  meaning  takes  place  in  the  case  of  homo- 
nyms. The  word  dear  in  such  an  expression  as  *  her  dearest 
foe'  is  often  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  the  adjective  dear 


THE  NATIVE  ELEMENT  89 

'beloved.'  It  is  in  reality  a  homonym  of  the  latter,  and 
comes  from  an  Old  English  adjective  meaning  '  dreadful.' 
The  same  word  is  common  in  the  colloquialism  '  dear  me,' 
although  it  is  here  also  commonly  misunderstood. 

154.  The  importance  of  the  native  element  in  English, 
and  its  persistence  in  spite  of  great  changes,  cannot  obscure 
the  fact  that  English  has  received  large  and  important  addi- 
tions to  its  vocabulary  from  foreign  sources.  In  fact,  the 
greatest  increase  to  the  English  vocabulary  from  any  single 
source  has  been  through  the  borrowing  of  words  from  other 
languages.  It  is  important,  therefore,  to  consider  the  vari- 
ous sources  from  which  words  have  been  borrowed,  as  well 
as  their  relation  to  the  original  word  stock.  These  subjects 
will  accordingly  be  treated  in  the  following  chapters. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  IN  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

155.  Important  as  is  the  borrowed  element  in  English,  it 
is  not  easily  treated  on  several  accounts.  For  instance,  it  is 
difficult  in  some  cases  to  separate  borrowed,  from  native, 
words.  Frequently,  also,  words  borrowed  in  early  times 
have  been  displaced  by  similar  words  of  later  introduction, 
and  this  may  cause  confusion.  Again,  in  tracing  the  history 
of  a  word,  its  ultimate  origin  must  be  separated  from  the 
immediate  source  from  which  it  has  come.  A  Greek  or 
Persian  word,  for  example,  may  have  come  to  English  in 
a  Latin  or  French  form.  Its  English  form  will,  therefore, 
depend  more  upon  the  immediate  source  of  the  borrowing, 
than  upon  its  ultimate  origin.  Such,  and  many  other  con- 
siderations, make  it  by  no  means  easy  to  treat  completely 
this  important  element  in  English.  Yet  some  idea  of  the 
influences  which  have  brought  about  the  adoption  of  foreign 
words  may  be  concisely  given,  together  with  some  examples 
of  the  borro\ired  words  in  the  language. 

156.  Borrowing  of  foreign  words  is  due  to  more  or  less 
direct  contact  of  one  nation  with  another.  The  slightest 
direct  contact  of  two  peoples,  in  a  friendly  or  hostile  man- 
ner, might  easily  lead  to  the  adoption  by  each  of  at  least  the 
name  of  the  other  nation.     More  intimate  association  usually 

90 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  9\ 

results  in  more  considerable  borrowings  which  are  limited 
only  by  the  barriers  that  custom  and  use  may  set.  The 
Romans  borrowed  Greek  words  because  the  Latin  people 
was  dominated  by  Greek  ideals  in  literature,  art,  and  culture. 
Owing  to  the  spread  of  Latin  Christianity,  to  the  use  of 
Latin  as  a  common  language  of  culture,  and  to  the  great 
revival  of  Latin  learning,  the  modern  nations  of  western 
Europe  have  borrowed  extensively  from  the  language  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  The  Enghsh  people,  owing  primarily  to 
the  conquest  by  French  invaders,  and  ever  since  to  more  or 
less  intimate  relations,  have  borrowed  largely  from  the 
French  language.  Finally,  in  modern  times  the  English 
people  have  again  drawn  upon  Latin  and  Greek  for  scien- 
tific and  technical  terms.  The  peculiarity  of  this  later  bor- 
rowing consists  in  the  fact  that  many  of  these  technical 
terms  have  been  coined  by  putting  together  words  or  parts 
of  words  not  so  united  in  the  original  language. 

157.  As  to  this  tendency  to  borrow  and  use  foreign  words, 
nations  have  radically  differed.  Some  have  freely  adopted 
words  from  all  languages  with  which  there  has  been  the 
slightest  contact.  The  conservatism  of  others  has  withstood 
incorporation  of  any  considerable  loan  element  even  from 
the  most  friendly  nation.  To  the  latter  class  belongs  mod- 
ern German,  while  English  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
examples  of  the  first  class.  The  importance  of  the  foreign 
element  in  the  English  vocabulary,  therefore,  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  consider  with  some  care  the  classes  of  words  bor- 
rowed, and  their  relation  to  the  native  speech. 

158.  The  first  class  of  words  to  be  borrowed  consists  of 
nouns,  or  name  words.     This  is  natural,  since  the  exchange 


92  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

of  commodities,  the  first  result  of  contact  between  two 
peoples,  naturally  leads  to  the  borrowing  of  names  for  the 
commodities  exchanged.  With  long  continued  and  more 
intimate  contact,  one  nation  may  adopt  from  another  ideas, 
customs,  even  forms  of  religion,  law,  and  government. 
These  influences  also  result  in  the  adoption  of  new  words, 
unless  the  conservatism  of  the  language  withstands  this 
tendency,  and  makes  old  words  or  new  compounds  serve 
instead  of  words  from  the  foreign  tongue.  In  more  ad- 
vanced stages  of  civilization,  travel  or  books  of  travel,  and 
translations  of  various  kinds  may  have  their  influence  in 
the  introduction  of  new  words.  Still  further,  a  new 
science  may  be  adopted,  and  with  it  the  scientific  nomen- 
clature from  the  nation  of  which  the  loan  is  made.  It  may 
also  become  the  custom  of  one  nation  to  borrow  names  for 
new  inventions,  new  sciences,  or  new  arts  springing  up, 
instead  of  coining  names  from  the  old  word  stock. 

159.  Foreign  influences  so  far  mentioned  account  for  the 
borrowing  of  new  names  of  objects  and  ideas,  or  nouns,  and 
names  of  actions,  or  verbs.  Besides,  intimate  association 
of  two  peoples  may  result  in  the  borrowing  of  some  words 
describing  nouns,  or  adjectives,  as  they  are  called.  This  is 
natural  since  adjectives  are  logically  the  names  of  qualities, 
or  attributes,  and  for  this  reason  are  grouped  in  the  mind 
with  names  of  things  and  of  actions.  But  it  is  evident  from 
a  regard  to  the  nature  of  words,  that  nouns  are  borrowed 
most  readily  and  in  largest  numbers,  while  verbs  and  ad- 
jectives are  less  commonly  borrowed,  and  fewer  of  the  latter 
than  of  the  former. 

160.  Considering  the  nature  of  other  parts  of  speech, 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  93 

it  is  clear  that  the  borrowing  of  such  words  as  pronouns, 
numerals,  adverbs,  and  particles  could  result  only  from  the 
closest  contact  of  two  peoples  through  a  considerable  period 
of  time.  Such  words  are  so  unobtrusive  in  use  that  they 
are  the  last  to  be  given  up  by  one  people,  or  borrowed  by 
another.  But  if  borrowing  from  these  classes  of  words 
should  take  place,  it  would  probably  first  affect  pronouns, 
since  these  partake  most  of  the  character  of  names.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  chances  are  exceedingly  small  that  a 
particle  would  be  adopted  from  one  language  by  another, 
although  such  a  thing  is  by  no  means  impossible  if  the 
intercourse  between  two  nations  is  sufficiently  intimate.  To 
illustrate  both  of  these  less  common  cases  of  borrowing  it 
may  be  noted  that,  owing  to  the  settlement  of  the  Danes 
in  England,  the  Norse  pronominal  forms  thcy^  their,  came 
into  English,  §  373.  By  the  influence  of  French,  also,  the 
interjection  alas  came  to  be  a  part  of  our  present  speech. 
Yet  of  such  words  the  number  borrowed  in  any  language  is 
exceedingly  small. 

161.  In  tracing  the  borrowed  element  in  English,  each 
of  the  three  periods.  Old,  Middle,  and  Modern  English,  will 
be  considered  separately.  This  plan  will  make  it  somewhat 
easier  to  connect  the  words  entering  the  language  from 
foreign  sources  with  the  foreign  influences  through  which 
they  have  been  borrowed.  On  the  other  hand  it  must  be 
remembered  that,  though  contact  of  two  peoples  may  begin 
in  one  period,  it  may  result  in  the  more  or  less  frequent 
borrowing  of  words  in  all  subsequent  time.  This  is  ex- 
emplified in  English  especially  in  the  case  of  Celtic  and 
French. 


94  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

The  Old  English  Period 

162.  It  has  been  said,  §  134,  that  the  vocabulary  of  oui 
Teutonic  ancestors  when  they  reached  Britain  was  practically 
homogeneous.  It  should  be  added,  however,  that  a  very 
few  Latin  words  had  probably  entered  the  language  before 
the  Teutons  left  their  continental  home.  This  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that  some  words  are  found  in  the  oldest 
English  in  common  with  the  Teutonic  languages  of  the  con- 
tinent. Such  words  are  chalky  mint^  crisps  short.  Probably 
the  words  Saturday ^  coulter^  fuller  (of  cloth)  are  also  to  be 
included,  and,  possibly,  anchor  and  ark. 

163.  When  the  Teutons  reached  Britain  and  conquered 
it,  their  language  was  at  once  affected  by  another  foreign  in- 

y  fluence.  Owing  to  contact  with  the  conquered  Celts,  some 
words  were  adopted  from  their  language.  It  was  natural, 
for  instance,  that  Celtic  names  of  places  should  be  retained 
by  the  Teutons.  In  fact,  Celtic  place  names  are  found  in 
all  parts  of  England,  though  much  more  commonly  in  the 
north  and  west,  and  especially  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
These  may  be  illustrated  as  follows  :  Celtic  Aber  *  mouth  '  is 
found  in  Aberdeen  *  mouth  of  the  Dee,'  and  also  in  Aber- 
feldte,  Abergeldie ;  bally  (ball)  '  place  '  occurs  in  Ballan- 
gleich,  Ballanmahon;  caer  'castle*  in  Caercolon,  Caerleon 
*  castle  of  the  legion  ' ;  dun  '  a  protected  place  '  in  Dunbar^ 
Dumbarton,  Dufidee;  inch  'island'  in  Inchcape,  Inchcolon; 
inver  '  mouth  of  river  '  in  Inverary,  Inverness ;  kill  *  church ' 
in  Kildare,  Kilkenny,  Kilmarnock;  llan  'sacred,  holy '  in 
Llandaff,  Llanfair.  Names  of  rivers,  as  Avon,  Usk  {Ux)^ 
and  names  of  mountains,  as  Pen,  Ben,  are  also  common. 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  95 

164.  Besides  the  Celtic  names  of  places,  there  were  also 
in  Old  English  a  few  Celtic  words  of  more  common  usage. 
Some  of  these  are  bannock;  3r^/  *  mantle,  rag,'  later  '  child 
in  rags ' ;  brock  '  badger ' ;  do7£/n  '  hill ' ;  dun  (colour)  ; 
mattock.  Some  common  Celtic  words  do  not  appear  in  Old 
English  literature,  but  are  known  in  the  Middle  English 
period,  as  bodkin  and  clan.  In  the  time  of  Shakespeare 
are  found  bog,  brogue,  gallow-glass,  glib  sb.,  kerne,  shamrock, 
all  from  the  Irish.  A  few  Celtic  words  have  come  from  the 
Scotch  Gaelic,  as  cairn,  claymore,  coronach,  crag,  glen, 
pibroch,  slogan,  whiskey,  some  of  which  are  literary  words 
only,  and  do  not  occur  except  in  the  language  of  books. 
Some  Celtic  words  have  also  been  borrowed  from  the  Welsh, 
but  the  list  of  these  is  small  and  still  uncertain. 

165.  With  the  Celtic  borrowings  came  also  a  few  Latin 
words  which  had  remained  among  the  Celts  after  the  Roman 
occupation  of  Britain.  Some  of  these  are  place  names, 
as  Lancaster,  Doncaster,  Chester,  Winchester,  Rochester, 
Leicester,  Gloucester,  all  containing  the  Latin  word  castra 
*camp,*  although  much  obscured  by  various  phonetic 
changes.  Others  are  common  words  such  as  lake,  mount, 
port,  street,  wall,  wick,  wine.  In  addition  to  these,  there 
are  one  or  two  words  of  Latin  origin  which  can  be  best 
accounted  for  by  supposing  that  English  has  borrowed 
forms  from  Celtic,  rather  than  directly  from  Latin.  Such 
are  alms  and  Christ. 

166.  The  most  considerable  Latin  influence  on  the  vocab- 
ulary of  Old  English,  was  due  to  that  contact  with  the  Latin 
race  which  began  when  the  English  accepted  Christianity, 
just  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century.    The  story,  as  Bede 


96  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

tells  it,  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition  :  how  Gregor) 
the  priest  saw  the  fair-haired  Angles  in  the  Roman  slave 
market ;  how  years  afterwards  the  same  Gregory,  then  Pope, 
sent  Augustine  to  England  with  a  band  of  missionaries  ;  and 
how  the  English  gave  up  their  gods  for  the  new  worship. 
This  adoption  of  a  new  religion  not  only  brought  immediate 
contact  with  Latin  Christianity  and  Latin  Christian  litera- 
ture, but  also  direct  intercourse  with  the  continental  peoples. 
As  a  natural  result,  many  ecclesiastical  terms  were  intro- 
duced into  English,  while  many  words  not  belonging  to  the 
church  also  became  common  in  everyday  hfe.  Besides, 
owing  to  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and  the  influence 
of  Latin  literature,  Latin  became  the  language  of  scholars, 
and,  on  this  account,  Latin  words  were  continually  entering 
English  throughout  the  Old  English  period. 

167.  Some  of  the  Latin  words  which  early  entered  the 
language  are  as  follows.  They  are  arranged  in  certain 
general  classes  according  to  their  general  character. 

1.  Church  words :  alb,  altar,  archbishops  bishop y  candle, 
churchy  cowlj  creed,  deacon,  devil,  font,  tJiartyr,  mass,  min- 
ster, monk,  nooUy  nun,  organ,  pall,  pasch,  pope,  priest,  psalm, 
shrine,  temple. 

2.  Trees  and  plants  :  beef,  box,  chervil,  fennel,  feverfew, 
gladen  '  sword  grass,'  lily,  mallow,  7nint,  ?nul- {berry),  palm, 
pea,  pear,  pepper,  periwinkle  (OE.  perwinca),  pine,  plant, 
plum,  poppy,  savine,  spelt. 

3.  Animal  names  :  capon,  doe,  lobster,  mussel,  pea- {cock), 
phoenix,  trout,  turtle- {dowt). 

4.  Miscellaneous :  butter,  canker,  cap,  cheese,  chest,  cook, 
coop{}),  copper,  cup,  dish,  fan,  fever,  fiddle,  fork,  imp,  inch, 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  97 

kiln,  kitchen,  linen,  mat,  mill,  mortar,  must '  mv\t,'  pan, pilch, 
pile,  pillow,  pin,  pit,  pitch,  plaster,  pole,  port,  punt,  sack, 
shambles,  sickle,  silk,  sock,  sole,  strap  {strop),  tile,  tippet,  tun, 
tunic. 

5.  Besides  the  above  nouns  there  were  also  introduced 
the  verbs  dight '  prepared,'  oj^er,  shrive,  spend,  stop,  and  the 
adjectives  crisp  and  short. 

168.  Among  the  words  introduced  into  Old  English  from 
Latin  are  some  which  had  been  borrowed  by  the  Romans 
themselves.  Most  of  these  were  originally  from  Greek,  or 
had  come  through  Greek.  Of  Greek  origin,  for  example, 
are  many  church  words,  as  bishop,  canon,  church,  deacon, 
devil,  martyr,  minster,  monk,  priest,  psalm,  and  others. 
Pasch  and  sack  are  originally  from  Hebrew,  and  a  few  others 
might  be  traced  to  other  sources.  These  last  were  first 
adopted  into  Greek,  then  became  Latin,  and  finally  English. 

169.  Another  foreign  influence  of  the  Old  English  period 
was  due  to  the  incursions  of  the  Danes  and  their  subsequent  ^ 
conquest  of  England,  §  58.  Owing  to  this  conquest,  a 
considerable  number  of  Norse  or  Scandinavian  words  be- 
came a  part  of  the  English  language.  Yet,  although  the 
Norse  influence  began  in  Old  English  times,  few  Norse  / 
words  appear  in  literature  before  the  Middle  English  period. 
Some  of  the  earliest  found  in  English  writings  occur  in  the 
Saxon  Chronicle,  §  Zd.  Examples  are  call,  crave,  fellow, 
haven,  husband,  hustings,  knife,  law,  take,  wrong.  Others, 
although  most  of  them  do  not  appear  until  the  Middle 
English  period,  may  also  be  referred  to  here. 

170.  Sometimes  these  Norse  words  may  be  distinguished 
from  those  of  English  origin,  owing  to  striking  differences 

H 


98  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

in  sounds.  For  example,  many  common  Teutonic  words 
in  English  which  have  an  sk  combination  of  sounds  are  of 
Norse  origin.  Examples  are  scaldy  scare^  skilly  skin^  sky^ 
score,  bask,  busk.  Such  words,  if  English  in  origin,  would 
now  have  sh  instead  of  sk.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
French  words  and  a  few  of  Low  German  origin  also  have 
the  sound  combination  sk,  as  scape,  scan,  scarce,  skipper. 
Similarly  Norse  words  have  g,  k,  as  in  gun,  kid,  instead  of 
y,  ch,  the  corresponding  English  sounds.  Examples  are 
giA  gei,  gii^st,  drag,  egg,  flag,  hug,  leg,  log,  and  keg,  kid,  kilt, 
kirtle.  Of  Norse  origin  also  are  many  words  with  ai,  ei,  as 
bait,  hail '  greet,'  raid,  raise,  swain,  they,  their,  wail. 

171.  Many  names  of  places  and  of  persons  are  also  of 
Norse  origin.  Examples  of  the  first  are  those  with  the 
suffixes  -by,  -thwaite,  as  in  Whitby,  Grimsby,  Langthwaite. 
Such  names  are  especially  frequent  in  the  north  and  east  of 
England,  the  region  of  the  old  Danelagh.  Corresponding 
English  place  names  on  the  other  hand  end  in  -ton,  -ham, 
-bury,  as  Alton,  Horsham,  Canterbury.  Norse  personal 
names  have  the  distinctive  suffix  -son,  as  m  Johnson,  Gibson, 
Thomson.  The  specifically  English  suffix  having  the  same 
meaning  is  -ing,  as  in  Hastings,  Birmingham, 

The  Middle  English  Period 

172.  During  the  Middle  English  period  the  language 
continued  to  be  affected  by  the  foreign  influences  which 
had  begun  to  affect  it  in  the  older  period.  For  example, 
Latin  continued  to  contribute  new  words  to  the  native 
stock.    As  already  noted,  §  169,  some  words  from  Celtic  and 


I 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  99 

Norse  do  not  actually  appear  in  literature  until  this  period, 
although  borrowings  from  both  had  begun  in  the  older  time. 
But  the  most  considerable  addition  to  the  English  language 
in  the  Middle  English  period  was  from  the  French,  borrow- 
ings from  which  were  due  to  the  Norman  conquest,  to  the 
Norman  Hterature  read  and  appreciated  in  England,  and  to 
a  more  or  less  constant  intercourse  between  the  French  and 
English  after  the  coming  of  the  Normans. 

173.  The  earliest  French  words  to  appear  in  literature 
are  those  which  occur  in  the  later  version  of  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  which  ends  in  1154.  Of  these  some  sixteen 
have  been  retained  to  modern  times.  They  are  castle, 
countess,  court,  empress,  justice,  miracle,  peace,  prison,  privi- 
lege, procession,  rent,  standard,  tower,  treasoft,  treasure, 
war.  From  this  time  French  words  in  English  became 
more  frequent.  It  is  naturally  quite  impossible  to  enu- 
merate all  or  nearly  all  of  these  that  have  remained  to  the 
present  time.  It  is  only  possible  to  call  attention  to  some 
of  the  more  striking  facts  in  regard  to  the  French  element. 

174.  It  has  already  been  shown,  in  the  chapter  on  the 
Middle  English  period,  that  French  did  not  displace  Eng- 
lish during  the  Norman  rule,  and  that  its  influence  has 
been  greatly  exaggerated.  This  is  also  proved  by  the  tardi- 
ness with  which  French  words  began  to  appear  in  Middle 
English  writings.  Although  Edward  the  Confessor,  who 
was  of  Norman  education  and  sympathies,  came  to  the 
throne  in  1042,  and  the  conquest  itself  took  place  some 
twenty  years  later,  it  is  not  until  iioo  that  French  words  , 
begin  to  appear  in  English  writings.  Nor  are  they  then  by 
any  means  numerous.     For   example,   the   entries   in   the 


JOO  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

Saxon  Chronicle  during  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  centurj 
contain  less  than  twenty  French  words.  Layamon's  Bmt^ 
with  its  16,000  long  lines,  was  based  on  a  French  poem  by 
Wace.  Although  there  are  two  texts,  one  written  about 
1200  and  one  about  1250,  yet  in  both  the  number  of 
French  words  does  not  exceed  150.  In  all  Middle  English 
writings  before  1250,  the  number  of  French  words  probably 
does  not  exceed  500.  By  the  year  1300  some  1000  French 
words  were  used  in  written  monuments;  while  in  some 
thirty-one  texts  written  before  1400,  3400  words  of  French 
origin  have  been  discovered.  This  number,  however,  in- 
cludes many  that  have  not  been  preserved  to  Modern  Eng- 
lish, since  many  French  words  have  held  but  a  temporary 
place  in  our  English  speech. 

175.  A  good  test  of  words  borrowed  from  early  and  late 
French  is  based  on  differences  in  vowel  and  consonant 
sounds,  due  to  differences  between  Old  and  Modern  French. 
These  may  be  exemplified  by  the  following  list,  in  which  the 
first  word  of  each  pair  represents  an  early,  the  second  a  late, 
borrowing.  In  some  of  these,  as  feast  —  fete,  suit  —  suite, 
the  words  are  etymological  doublets ;  that  is,  the  same  word 
has  been  introduced  in  both  earlier  and  later  forms. 


a.  rage  —  mirage.  01.  coy — reservoir. 

e.  feast  —  fete.  ou.  count  —  tour. 

i.  vine  —  ravine.  ui.  suit  —  suite. 

0.  bonny — chaperon,  af-  

front  —  platoon.  ch.  chandler  —  chandelier. 

U.  duty — debut.  g.  rage  —  rouge. 

au.  cause  —  hautboy.  j.  just  —  jeu  d'esprit. 

eau.  beauty  —  beau.  qu.  quit  —  bouquet. 

eu.  grandeur  —  connoisseur. 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  101 

Even  this  test  of  sounds  does  not  apply  to  all  words,  since 
some  introduced  very  late  have  assumed  the  sounds  of  earlier 
borrowings  by  analogy  of  written  forms.  This  is  true,  for 
example,  of  g  and  j  in  legislative  and  cajole.  Yet  the 
general  accuracy  of  the  test,  based  on  diiferences  in  pro- 
nunciation, may  be  rehed  upon.  :   :  .^ »  .,    .         ^..    .., 

176.  In  a  few  words,  phonetic  differaAc^s"^  ihdjcate  differ^ 
ences  in  the  dialects  from  which  the .  French;  "vi^otids  wei£j 
borrowed.  For  example,  certain  words  with  a 'k  s6Und' 
(written  c)  are  doublets  of  other  words  with  ch,  and  yet 
both  belong  to  early  French  borrowings.  Here  belong  cal- 
dron —  chaldron  ;  capital  —  chapter ;  cark  —  charge  ;  catch 
— chase;  cattle  —  chattel;  kennel 'gutter' — channel.  The 
explanation  of  these  doublets  is,  that  the  words  with  the  k 
sound  are  from  Northern  French,  including  Normandy, 
Picardy,  and  places  like  Cressy,  Calais,  Boulogne,  well  ki.own 
in  English  and  French  history.  Those  with  ch  are  from 
Central  French,  including  the  Angevin  kingdoms.  The  list 
is  small,  however,  and  it  would  be  but  slightly  increased  if 
certain  Middle  English  words,  which  have  since  become 
obsolete,  were  added. 

177.  One  class  of  words  introduced  by  the  Normans 
deserves  special  mention  in  connection  with  early  French 
additions.  Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  intro- 
duction of  Danish  surnames.  The  Normans  also  helped  to 
establish  the  use  of  hereditary  surnames  in  England.  It 
had  been  the  custom  of  the  English  to  give  but  one  name, 
to  which  no  indication  of  parentage  or  place  of  residence 
was  added.  But  the  Normans  followed  the  Romance  cus- 
tom of  giving  to  each  knight  or  courtier  a  second  name, 


102  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

usually  from  his  place  of  birth ;  as,  Robert  Bruce,  William 
Percy.  Surnames  became  so  much  the  fashion  in  England, 
that  the  story  is  told  of  how  the  heiress  of  Robert  Fitz-Hamon 
disdained  Robert  of  Caen  because  he  had  no  to-name,  and 
how  King  Henry  made  good  this  lack  by  giving  the  luckless 
kpight  the  sarnamfc  Fitzroy.  In  addition  to  surnames,  many 
igtven  nani^s  also'  came  in  with  the  Normans,  as  some  had 
deJtip' with' the  Danes.     * 

'  ^^8r.  "Attempts  have  been  made  to  arrange  words  bor- 
rowed from  early  French  into  certain  general  classes,  accord- 
ing as  they  entered  through  various  channels  of  thought. 
This  is  possible,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent.  Norman  devo- 
tion to  the  church  brought  many  church  words  not  hitherto 
introduced.  Many  terms  used  in  reference  to  government 
and  courts  of  \^  are  also  of  French  origin.  The  same  is 
true  of  words  applied  to  w^r  and  knighthood,  owing  to  the 
Norman  introduction  of  feudalism  and  chivalry.  But  it 
would  be  difficult  to  classify  all  French  words  in  this  way, 
since  words  applicable  to  all  states  and  conditions  of  life 
were  freely  introduced.  For  example,  in  a  list  of  some  500 
French  words  introduced  before  1250,  sixty- four  belong  to 
religion  and  the  church,  twenty-eight  to  government  and  the 
courts  of  law,  twelve  to  war  and  chivalry.  This  leaves,  how- 
ever, almost  400  that  cannot  easily  be  classified.  The  large 
proportion  belonging  to  the  church  is  partly  accounted  for 
by  the  class  of  writings  examined;  but,  in  any  case,  the 
proportion  of  words  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  classify 
would  probably  still  remain  unchanged. 

179.    So  far  no  special  effort  has  been  made  to  separate 
Norman  French  from   Parisian   French   loan-words  which 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  103 

came  somewhat  later.  Both  these  classes  of  words  have 
conformed  to  native  words  in  phonetic  changes,  in  accent, 
and  in  development  of  forms.  Parisian  French  words  began 
to  enter  English  at  the  last  of  the  thirteenth,  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth,  century.  During  the  fifteenth 
century  they  became  more  numerous,  owing  especially  to 
the  translation  of  French  works  by  English  writers.  Many 
Italian  books  also  came  to  England  through  French  ver- 
sions. For  example,  Lydgate,  who  died  about  1460,  trans- 
lated Boccaccio's  Fall  of  Princes  and  Colonna's  Troy  Book^ 
not  from  Italian,  but  from  French  versions.  Later  in  the 
century  the  French  translations  of  Caxton,  Malory,  Rivers, 
and  others  brought  a  great  increase  to  the  French  element 
in  our  English  speech. 

180.  The  influence  of  Modern  French  on  English  has 
been  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  During  the  early  six- 
teenth century  the  translations  from  the  French  are  repre- 
sented especially  by  the  Froissart  of  Lord  Berners,  while 
in  the  Elizabethan  time  French  was  drawn  upon  for  many 
novels  and  tales.  As  in  Caxton's  time,  many  of  the  classics, 
as  well  as  works  from  the  Italian,  were  also  introduced  into 
England  through  French  versions.  Later,  in  the  time  of 
Charles  I,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Henry  IV  of 
France,  French  manners  and  customs  were  imitated  in 
England.  All  these  influences  tended  to  bring  in  French 
words. 

181.  The  accession  of  Charles  II,  who  had  long  lived 
at  the  French  court,  intensified  the  French  influence  of  his 
father's  reign.  This  is  exemplified  especially  in  the  lit- 
erature of  the  seventeenth  century.     To  illustrate,  many 


104  THE   ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

words  occurring  in  Dryden  belong  to  this  period,  and  werft 
due  to  the  special  French  influence  following  the  Restora- 
tion. Examples  are  adroit,  aggressor^  antechamber^  apart- 
menty  bagatelle,  brunette,  biirlesquey  cadet^  cajole,  calash, 
campaigtt,  cannonade,  caprice,  caress^  chagrin,  commandant, 
complaisant,  console,  coquette,  corps,  cravat.  Many  such 
words  retain  French  accentuation,  as  bagatelle,  barricade, 
cadet,  caprice,  or  French  pronunciation  in  other  respects, 
as  ballet,  billet-doux,  carte  blanche,  cuirassier. 

182.  Since  the  seventeenth  century,  French  words  have 
been  borrowed  occasionally  as  they  have  been  used  by  great 
writers,  or  more  frequently  through  the  adoption  of  scientific 
and  philosophical  terms.  Many  of  these  retain  a  sort  of 
French  pronunciation,  with  some  modification  of  vowels  due 
to  analogy  of  English  words.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the 
exact  relation  of  the  French  loan  element  to  the  whole 
number  of  borrowed  words  in  English,  but  it  is  probably 
fair  to  say  that  the  largest  number  of  borrowed  words 
from  any  one  source  is  from  French,  while  Latin  words 
stand  next  in  order  of  numbers. 


The  Modern  English  Period 

183.  The  new  foreign  influences  affecting  Modern  Eng- 
lish are  many,  while  borrowing  from  the  languages  which 
had  already  come  in  contact  with  English  still  continued 
in  the  modern  period.  The  new  influences  upon  English 
have  resulted  from  the  extension  of  the  British  Empire,  and 
the  widespread  intercourse  of  the  English  people  with  other 
nations.     This  latter  intercourse  has  been  both  direct,  as 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  lOS 

through  commerce  and  travel,  and  indirect,  as  througr. 
literature  and  science.  Some  account  of  these  new  influ- 
ences upon  English  is  therefore  important  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  growth  of  the  vocabulary  in  modern  times. 

184.  Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  borrowed 
element  from  French.  French,  however,  is  not  the  only 
Romance  language  which  has  affected  English.  Some 
words  have  also  been  received  from  Italian,  Spanish,  and 
Portuguese.  Of  these,  Italian  was  the  earliest  from  which 
borrowed  words  were  adopted.  The  Italian  influence  is 
mainly  modern,  although  during  the  Middle  English  period 
a  few  Italian  words  came  into  English  through  French. 
Examples  of  the  latter  are  alarm,  brigand,  ducat,  florin, 
pilgrim.  Besides  these,  there  are  certain  others  which  had 
been  borrowed  by  the  Italians  from  eastern  nations  with 
which  they  were  engaged  in  commerce,  as  diaper,  fustian, 
orange,  rebeck.  These  also  came  into  English  through  the 
French  language. 

185.  Direct  contact  with  Italy  belongs  especially  to  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  Italian  influence  at  this  time  is 
indicated  in  many  ways.  Literature  was  then  under  special 
Italian  influence,  as  shown  by  the  poetry  of  Wyatt  and 
Surrey.  The  same  influence  upon  the  language  is  attested 
by  the  strong  protest  of  Ascham  in  his  Schoolmaster  against 
the  'Englishman  Italianated,*  and  by  others  in  various 
works.  The  Italian  influence  continued  through  the  six- 
teenth, and  part  of  the  seventeenth,  century.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century  Italian  music  was  introduced  into  England, 
and  with  it  came  many  musical  terms.  It  still  remains  true, 
however,  that  about  half  the  Italian  words  in  English,  even 


106  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

those  of  modem  times,  have  come  to  us  through  French. 
Some  characteristic  Italian  words  borrowed  direct  from 
Italy  are,  archipelago^  balcony^  cameo^  campanile^  catacomb^ 
dilettante^  extravaganza. 

1 86.  The  Spanish  element  differs  from  the  Italian  both 
in  number  of  words,  there  being  only  about  two- thirds  as 
many,  and  in  the  way  in  which  it  has  been  received.  Foi 
there  never  has  been  such  direct  contact  with  Spanish  Ht- 
erature  as  with  Italian,  or  indeed  close  contact  of  any  sort. 
The  Spanish  element,  like  the  Italian,  is  mainly  modern, 
although  some  words  of  Spanish  form,  but  of  Arabic  origin, 
were  borrowed  in  Middle  English  times.  As  in  the  case  of 
Italian,  also,  some  Spanish  words  have  come  to  us  through 
French.  For  in  Elizabethan  times,  when  Spanish  literature 
came  to  be  known  in  England,  as  well  as  in  the  following 
centuries,  many  Spanish  works  appeared  in  French  trans- 
lations. But  the  largest  number  of  Spanish  terms  has  been 
introduced  through  commerce  and  travel.  Some  of  these 
are  due  to  intercourse  between  Spaniards  and  Englishmen 
in  the  Americas,  and  thus  some  words  from  the  aboriginal 
American  languages  have  been  adopted  in  Spanish  forms. 
Examples  of  words  direct  from  the  Spanish  are  alcalde 
(originally  Arabic),  castanets,  hidalgo,  matador ;  articles  of 
merchandise,  as  indigo,  sassafras,  sherry,  vanilla ;  nautical 
terms,  as  armada,  flotilla ;  names  of  animals,  as  alligator, 
armadillo,  mosquito.  Words  for  abstract  ideas  are  few,  as 
punctilio,  peccadillo. 

187.  A  few  words  have  been  borrowed  from  Portuguese. 
The  number  of  these  has  been  variously  estimated  from 
thirteen  to  nearly  twice  as  many.     Among  those  that  may 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  107 

be  mentioned  are  aufo-de-fe,  banana,  binnacle,  cobra,  cocoa. 
Some  Portuguese  words  in  English  are  originally  from  India, 
Africa,  and  Brazil,  countries  settled  by  the  Portuguese,  or 
with  which  they  have  had  commercial  relations. 

i88.  Among  other  foreign  influences  affecting  the  English 
vocabulary  is  that  due  to  contact  with  the  Low  German 
languages,  especially  Dutch,  to  a  less  extent  Frisian  and 
Flemish.  Although  most  of  the  words  entering  English 
from  these  sources  are  modern,  borrowings  from  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Low  Countries  may  easily  have  begun  as  early 
as  the  Middle  English  period.  This  view  is  favoured  by  the 
fact  that  there  were  important  commercial  relations  between 
the  Netherlands  and  England  in  early  times.  It  is  said  that 
in  the  reign  of  Edgar,  who  died  in  975,  there  was  a  league  of 
German  traders  in  London.  In  1260,  Henry  III  granted  by 
charter  equal  protection  to  all  German  merchants,  and  as  a 
result  new  guilds  were  soon  formed  under  control  of  the 
great  Hanseatic  League.  At  this  time,  also,  all  English 
wool  was  exported  to  Flanders,  to  be  returned  again  in 
woven  fabrics,  or  exchanged  on  the  continent  for  other  im- 
portant products.  In  1328,  Edward  III  married  Philippa 
of  Hainault,  and  about  the  same  time  invited  Flemish  weav- 
ers to  settle  in  England.  The  modem  borrowings  are  espe- 
cially due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  the 
Dutch  had  possession  of  the  carrying  trade,  and  from  them 
the  English  learned  commerce  and  navigation. 

189.  Low  German  words,  as  those  from  Norse,  strongly 
resemble  those  of  English  origin,  so  that  a  larger  number 
may  easily  be  assigned  to  this  particular  loan  element 
than  rightly  belongs  to  it.    To  the  Low  German  element 


108  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

belong  especially  two  classes  of  words,  those  relating  to 
commerce  and  nautical  affairs.  The  first  includes  cannikin^ 
groaty  guilder  J  hogshead^  hollandy  jerkin^  link  '  torch,'  lin- 
sfockf  spool,  swabber^  wagon.  In  the  second  are  included 
ahoy,  aloof,  avast,  boom,  deck,  hoist,  lash,  lighter  *  barge,' 
marline,  moor  (as  a  ship),  reef,  skipper,  sloop,  smack  *  fishing 
boat,'  yacht,  yawl.  Examples  of  common  everyday  words 
probably  from  Low  German  sources  are  boy  and  girl. 

190.  The  loan  material  so  far  mentioned  has  been  wholly 
from  languages  belonging  to  the  Indo-European  family. 
Besides,  two  other  branches  of  the  same  family  have  fur- 
nished us  some  loan-words  more  or  less  directly.  The  first 
of  these  is  the  Aryan,  §  11,  which  includes  Indian  and  Ira- 
nian. From  the  first,  pepper,  ginger,  sugar,  sulphur,  nard, 
were  indirectly  borrowed  before  modern  times.  In  modern 
times,  owing  to  England's  relations  with  India,  some  words 
have  been  adopted  from  the  various  dialects  of  the  Indian 
Empire,  as  chintz,  indigo,  juggernaut, jungle.  From  Iranian, 
English  has  also  received  some  common  words.  Some  of 
the  earliest  are  azure,  candy,  check,  chess,  orange,  peach. 
Others,  somewhat  later,  are  bazaar,  borax,  caravan,  divan. 
The  second  branch  of  the  Indo-European  family  represented 
among  our  borrowed  words  is  the  Balto-Slavic.  Words  from 
this  source  are  few,  however,  and  are  mostly  names  easily 
recognized  as  foreign.  Examples  are.  Czar,  drosky,  knout, 
mazurka,  polka,  ukase,  vampire. 

191.  Some  words  have  been  borrowed  by  English  from 
the  Semitic  languages,  and  to  a  less  extent  from  those  of 
Turkey,  China,  Japan,  Africa,  and  the  countries  of  North 
and  South  America.    The  Semitic  element  is  represented 


THE  BORROWED  ELEMENT  109 

first  by  words  from  Hebrew  and  Aramaic,  the  languages  of 
Palestine  in  Old  and  New  Testament  times.  Such  words 
were  taken  either  directly  from  Hebrew  and  Greek,  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  through  late  trans- 
lations, or  from  the  Latin  (Vulgate)  translation  of  the 
Scriptures.  Examples  of  Hebrew  words  are  aUeluia,  amen, 
dalsam,  cherub,  cummin,  ephod,  gehenna,  gopher- {wood), 
Messiah,  paschal.  Words  of  Aramaic  origin  are  abba,  dam- 
ask, damson,  mammon,  targum.  From  the  nature  of  the 
case,  such  words  have  been  coming  into  English  since  the 
Christianization  of  Britain. 

192.  Arabic  words  also  belong  to  the  Semitic  element, 
and  these  are  more  numerous  in  English  than  might  be  sup- 
posed. They  have  come  to  us  indirectly  in  most  cases, 
some  through  Greek  and  Italian,  others  through  Spanish 
and  French.  The  earliest  Arabic  words  in  the  language  are 
admiral,  and  maumet  *  idol,'  from  Mahomet,  Some  others, 
found  in  Middle  English  are  alkali,  alkoran,  azimuth,  elixir, 
and  lemon.  Many  also  belong  to  modern  times.  Charac- 
teristic Arabic  words  not  already  mentioned  are  alcohol,  alge- 
bra, amber,  artichoke,  bedouin,  benzoin,  calif,  coffee,  cotton. 

193.  It  is  impossible  to  distinguish  other  Asiatic  elements 
with  great  exactness.  Some  borrowed  words  in  EngHsh  are 
Turkish,  as  bashaw,  bey,  bosh,  caftan,  Cossack,  dey,  janizary, 
ottoman,  uhlan.  From  Hungary  have  come  hussar,  sabre, 
shako.  Of  Tartar  origin  are  khan,  mammoth.  Malay  words 
are  amuck,  cockatoo,  gong,  guttapercha,  junk.  From  China, 
besides  the  names  of  country  and  people,  the  word  tea  and 
the  names  of  various  kinds  of  tea  have  been  borrowed. 
From  Australia  come  boomerang,  kangaroo ;  from  Polynesia, 


110  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

taboo  and  tattoo  *  to  mark  the  body.'  The  African  element 
is  somewhat  larger,  and  includes  such  words  as  behemothy 
oasis y  and  gypsy. 

194.  The  largest  of  the  minor  foreign  elements  is  the 
native  American,  which  includes  words  from  the  languages 
of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  North  and  South  America. 
From  the  North  American  Indians  come  hominy,  moccasin, 
moose,  opossum,  papoose,  pemmican,  raccoon,  sachem,  squaw, 
toboggan,  tomahawk,  wampum,  wigwam,  besides  many  place- 
names.  Mexico  has  furnished  us  cacao,  chocolate,  copal, 
coyote,  jalap,  tomato ;  the  West  Indies,  barbecue,  canoe,  hur- 
ricane, maize,  potato.  From  South  America  have  come 
alpaca,  caoutchouc,  condor,  guano,  ipecacuanha,  jaguar, 
pampas,  quinine,  tapioca,  tapir.  Some  of  these  have  been 
introduced  directly,  especially  names  of  animals  or  articles 
of  merchandise,  while  others  have  come  to  us  from  other 
modern  languages. 

195.  With  borrowed  words  from  so  many  diverse  sources, 
it  might  seem  that  Enghsh  is  at  best  a  hodgepodge  of 
many  languages.  But  this  is  far  from  true.  It  is  only  when 
examining  the  various  sources  from  which  words  have  come 
into  English,  that  the  vocabulary  seems  a  hodgepodge  in 
any  sense.  As  actually  used  in  speaking  and  writing,  it  is  as 
homogeneous  as  if  all  words  had  come  from  a  single  source. 
How  and  why  this  is  so  will  be  discussed  in  the  following 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

RELATION  OF  THE  BORROWED  AND  NATIVE  ELEMENTS 

196.  Although  the  English  vocabulary  consists  of  two 
apparently  diverse  elements,  the  native  and  the  borrowed, 
each  is  equally  important  for  English  expression.  Most 
borrowed  words  have  become  thoroughly  incorporated  into 
the  language,  and  are  as  much  a  part  of  present  English  as 
the  words  which  were  brought  from  the  continent  by  our 
Teutonic  forefathers.  This  is  true,  because  from  the  stand- 
point of  language  one  word  is  as  good  as  another,  if  it  is  in 
equally  good  use  for  the  idea  intended. 

197.  It  is  true  that  another  conception  of  the  borrowed 
element  has  been  not  uncommon.  Although  foreign  words 
were  early  adopted  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  enriching 
the  native  speech,  §  94,  the  purists  of  the  Elizabethan  and 
the  following  ages  opposed  borrowing  as  tending  to  'cor- 
rupt '  the  language.  In  the  nineteenth  century  also,  not  a 
few  have  bewailed  the  '  corruption  *  of  English,  by  reason  of 
the  large  proportion  of  borrowed  words.  Such  critics  have 
seemed  to  think  that  there  was  some  peculiar  charm  in  a 
word  of  English  origin.  Some  of  the  purists  have  even 
wished  to  exclude  all  words  from  foreign  sources,  and  so 
bring  a  return  of  the  original  Teutonic  character  of  the 
English  tongue. 


\ 

\ 

112  TJ/£  EICGLISII  VOCABULARY 

198.  Such  views,  however,  rest  on  a  wrong  conception  ol 
the  nature  of  language.  Words  get  their  standing  and  im- 
portance wholly  from  usage.  The  word  newly  coined  from 
the  native  stock,  and  the  word  newly  borrowed  from  a  for- 
eign source,  acquire  their  value  in  the  same  way.  When 
either  becomes  established  in  usage,  it  is  an  integral  part  of 
the  language.  The  only  advantage  which  arises  from  a  word 
of  native  coinage  is  that  it  may  be  more  easily  understood 
and  more  generally  accepted.  So  far,  the  use  of  the  native 
word  stock  is  to  be  preferred  to  borrowing  a  foreign  word, 
or  employing  one  which  has  not  yet  been  sanctioned  by 
established  usage.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  borrowed  word 
is  once  thoroughly  established,  it  is  to  be  preferred  to  a 
newly  coined  native  word. 

199.  In  only  one  important  respect  may  the  native  ele- 
ment be  said  to  have  a  certain  advantage  over  the  element 
borrowed  from  other  languages.  There  can  be  little  ques- 
tion that  the  native  element  bears  a  definite  relation  to  sim- 
plicity and  force  of  expression.  This  is  true  not  because 
of  any  inherent  qualities  in  native  words,  but  because, 
by  the  accidents  of  our  language  history,  the  native  words 
have  been  reduced  to  simpler  forms.  For  this  reason  the 
larger  the  proportion  of  native  words  in  a  given  author,  the 
larger  the  proportion  of  short,  simple,  strong  words,  and 
the  more  concise,  clear,  and  forcible  the  style.  But  in 
making  such  a  comparison,  only  writings  of  similar  char- 
acter can  be  compared.  The  scientist  and  the  philosopher 
must  necessarily  use  a  somewhat  different  vocabulary  from 
that  of  the  poet  and  the  essayist. 

200.  Too  much,  however,  must   not   be   made   of  this 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS  113 

apparent  difference  between  the  two  elements.  Most  early 
borrowings  have  become  thoroughly  assimilated  to  English, 
and  hence  are  now  as  short  and  simple  as  native  words. 
This  will  be  seen  by  examining  the  number  of  common, 
monosyllabic  uords  derived  from  early  French.  Examples 
falling  under  the  first  three  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  ache^ 
age,  air,  arm  '  firearm,'  arf,  aunt,  bail,  balm,  bar,  base,  beak, 
beast,  beef,  blame,  boil,  brace,  branch,  bray,  breeze,  brief, 
brush,  cage,  calm,  cape,  car,  case,  catch,  cause,  cease,  cell, 
chain,  chair,  chance,  change,  chant,  charge,  chase,  chaste, 
cheer,  chief,  choice,  choir,  claim,  clause,  clear,  cloak,  close, 
coast,  coil,  corpse,  cost,  course,  court,  coy,  crest,  cross,  cry, 
cull.  All  these  are  an  integral  part  of  the  language,  as  truly 
as  words  originally  Teutonic. 

201.  The  thorough  incorporation  into  the  language  of 
most  borrowed  words  may  be  illustrated  in  many  ways. 
Such  words,  for  example,  have  usually  been  anglicized,  that 
is,  have  been  so  modified  as  to  conform  to  the  sounds, 
accent,  and  inflections  of  English.  After  such  anglicizing 
in  whatever  period,  borrowed  words  have  been  affected  by 
the  phonetic  and  other  changes  affecting  native  words.  For 
example,  early  borrowed  words  in  Old  English  suffered 
mutation,  §  250,  perhaps  the  most  considerable  change  that 
has  affected  the  vowel  sounds  of  stressed  syllables.  This 
accounts  for  English  mint,  kitchen,  pit,  inch,  compared  with 
Latin  moneta,  coquina,  puteus,  uncia,  the  words  from  which 
they  are  derived.  Early  borrowings  have  also  assumed  the 
English  accent,  and  all  but  a  few  words  from  foreign  sources 
have  taken  the  native  inflection. 

202.  In  common  with  native  words,  those  adopted  from 

I 


114  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

Other  languages  have  suffered  other  phonetic  changes.  For 
instance,  borrowed  words  have  developed  double  forms  in 
some  cases.  Examples  are  adventure  —  venture,  appeal — 
pealj  attend — tend  *  czxt  for,'  avow — vow,  engine — gin, 
escape  —  scape.  Similar  double  forms  among  native  words 
have  been  mentioned  in  §  146. 

203.  The  thorough  assimilation  of  borrowed  words  is 
also  shown  by  their  entering  into  compounds  after  the 
manner  of  native  words.  Such  compounds,  called  hybrids, 
are  of  two  sorts,  —  those  formed  by  a  union  with  native 
words,  and  those  with  native  prefixes  and  suffixes.  Com- 
pounds of  independent  words  are  illustrated  by  black-guard, 
life-guard,  salt-cellar,  in  which  the  first  part  is  English  and 
the  second  French;  and  by  eyelet-hole,  heir-loom,  hobby- 
horse, scape-goat,  in  which  the  first  is  French  and  the  sec- 
ond English.  There  are  also  hybrids  made  up  of  two 
borrowed  words.  Thus  bandy-legged  is  French  and  Scandi- 
navian, as  is  b\so  partake  for  *  part-take ;  juxta-position  is 
Latin  and  French,  interloper  Latin  and  Dutch,  and  marigold 
Hebrew  and  English. 

204.  Compounds  of  foreign  words  with  native  prefixes 
are  illustrated  by  around,  because,  in  which  the  prefix  is 
English  and  the  rest  of  the  word  French.  Other  hybrids 
of  similar  composition  are  fore-front,  out-ciy,  over-power, 
un-able.  More  numerous  are  the  words  in  which  an  Eng- 
lish suffix  has  been  added  to  a  French  noun  or  adjective, 
and  the  custom  of  making  such  compounds  still  continues 
to  some  extent.  Examples  of  famiHar  words  of  this  sort 
are  aim-less,  duke-dom,  false-hood,  court-ship,  plenti-ful, 
dainti-ness,  trouble-some,  genial-ly. 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS  .  115 

205.  Furthermore,  many  borrowed  prefixes  and  suffixes 
not  only  occur  in  foreign  derived  words,  but  have  also  been 
used  in  forming  new  compounds  in  English.  Some  ex- 
amples of  borrowed  prefixes  thus  used  are  ante-^  anti-,  bi-, 
dis-,  ex-,  inter-,  non-,  re-,  semi-,  sub-,  super-,  trans-,  ultra-, 
as  in  anteroom,  anti-American,  bicycle,  dislike,  ex-sheriff, 
intertwist,  nonconductor,  renew,  semiweekly,  subway,  super- 
charge, transform,  ultra-clerical.  As  the  examples  show, 
the  prefix  of  foreign  origin  has  sometimes  united  with  a 
borrowed,  sometimes  with  a  native,  word. 

206.  The  borrowed  suffixes  used  in  the  same  way  are 
still  more  numerous.  Some  of  those  forming  new  nouns 
are  -age,  -ard,  -ess,  -ist,  -ism,  -let,  -ment,  and  -ry,  as  in 
tillage,  drunkard,  murderess,  nihilist,  patriotism,  brooklet, 
fulfilment,  outlawry.  Examples  of  borrowed  suffixes  used 
in  forming  adjectives  are  -an,  -ate,  -ble,  -ese,  -esque,  -ic,  -ide, 
as  in  Elizabethan,  nitrate,  eatable,  Johnsonese,  Dantesque, 
Celtic,  bromide.  The  most  common  borrowed  suffixes  used 
in  forming  verbs  are  -fy,  -ize,  as  in  purify^  galvanize.  Even 
these  examples  do  not  include  all  the  prefixes  and  suffixes 
from  foreign  sources,  and  none  of  those  which,  though 
found  in  borrowed  words,  are  not  used  in  forming  new 
compounds. 

207.  Attention  has  already  been  called  to  homonyms  of 
English  origin,  §  151.  Sometimes  a  borrowed  word  has 
come  to  have  the  same  phonetic  form  as  a  native  one,  and 
sometimes  two  or  more  homonyms  have  been  borrowed. 
Of  the  first  sort  are  English  angle  'fishing  hook'  and 
French  angle  '  corner ' ;  English  arm  *  part  of  body '  and 
French   arm,  as  in  *  firearm ' ;    English   bank   *  mound   of 


116  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

earth '  and  French  bank  '  place  for  money.'  To  the  second 
class  of  homonyms  mentioned  belong  ancient  *  old '  and 
ancient  '  banner.'  In  one  case  four  homonyms  have  all 
been  borrowed,  as  bay  '  colour,'  bay  '  an  inlet,'  bay  *  laurel 
tree,'  and  bay  *  to  bark  as  a  dog.' 

208.  The  influx  of  new  words  at  various  times  and  from 
various  sources  has  produced  one  result  not  so  true  of  any 
other  language  as  of  English.  The  same  word  etymologi- 
cally  has  been  introduced  in  two,  sometimes  three  different 
forms,  as  it  has  come  at  different  times  or  through  different 
channels.  Thus  caitiff,  conceit,  corpse,  frail,  are  doublets  of 
captive,  conception,  corps,  fragile.  Doublets  that  are  ulti- 
mately Greek  in  origin  are  diamond — adamant,  fancy  — 
phantasy,  priest — presbyter,  "whiXt  balm  —  balsam  are  ulti- 
mately Hebrew.  In  such  cases  the  shorter  form,  or  that 
which  has  evidently  suffered  the  greater  number  of  phonetic 
changes,  is  usually  the  older  of  the  two. 

209.  Sometimes  a  word  of  Teutonic  origin  has  come  to 
English  from  a  foreign  language  into  which  it  had  been 
adopted.  Thus  guard  is  the  French  form  of  an  original 
Teutonic  word  which  appears  in  English  ward.  In  wage  — 
gage,  warrant — guarantee,  French  doublets  have  been  bor- 
rowed, while  their  original  Teutonic  roots  also  appear  in 
English  wed —  ware.  Occasionally  a  word  has  been  intro- 
duced in  three  different  forms,  as  real  (used  by  Chaucer), 
royal,  and  regal.  Another  etymological  triplet  is  found  in 
leal  ('land  o'  the  leal'),  loyal,  and  legal  A  few  words 
appear  in  four  forms.  For  example,  Latin  discus  has  given 
us,  directly  or  indirectly,  dish,  desk,  dais,  and  finally  disc. 

210.  Owing  to  the  borrowing  of  the  same  word  at  dif- 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS  117 

ferent  times,  a  later  form  has  frequently  displaced  an  earlier. 
Latin  angelus  became  Old  English  engel,  which  was  later 
displaced  by  the  French  form  angel.  So  Old  English  fic 
and  sa7ictj  from  Latin  ficus  '  fig,'  sanctus  *  holy,'  have  been 
replaced  by  fig  and  saint,  which  are  French  forms.  Old 
English  crisien  *  christian,'  adj.  and  sb.,  has  been  made  to 
conform  to  Latin  Christianus,  although  the  verb  cJuisten 
remains  unchanged  except  for  the  Latinized  spelling,  with 
ch  instead  of  c.  In  many  cases  the  displacement  is  prob- 
able, although  not  certain.  English  abbot,  apostle,  epistle, 
are  probably  French  forms  rather  than  from  Old  English 
abbod,  {(i)postol,  {e)pistel,  forms  which  had  been  early 
adopted  from  Latin. 

211.  Sometimes  the  orthography,  and  even  the  pronun- 
ciation, of  early  French  words  in  English  has  been  changed 
by  reason  of  a  later  borrowing.  In  this  way  the  older  forms 
dette  and  doute,  have  given  place  to  debt  and  doubt.  This  also 
accounts  for  cord —  chord,  counter —  compter,  indite — indict, 
quire  —  choir,  which  are  doublets  in  spelUng.  The  difference 
in  speUing  is  due  to  the  fact  that  French  writers,  during  the 
3ixteenth  century,  made  the  orthography  of  many  words 
conform  to  that  of  Latin  words  from  which  they  were,  or 
were  supposed  to  be,  derived.  Sometimes  the  added  letters 
came  to  be  pronounced  in  English,  as  in  perfect  and  verdict, 
which  replaced  the  older  forms /<?^/ arid  verdit.  The  words 
adventure,  advise,  advocate,  likewise  supplanted  older  forms 
without  d,  except  that  the  older  form  of  the  first  remains 
with  different  meaning,  in  venture,  ME.  aventure.  The 
tendency  to  use  a  learned  orthography  accounts  for  a  few 
peculiarities  in  native  English  words.    Thus  rhyme  is  written 


118  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

instead  of  rime^  because  of  supposed  connection  with  rhythm^ 
and  delight  has  been  made  over  from  French  delit  by  sup- 
posed connection  with  EngHsh  light. 

212.  As  to  meaning,  borrowed  words  have  usually  been 
those  having  no  equivalents  in  the  language  of  adoption. 
If  a  borrowed  word  were  synonymous  with  a  native  word, 
either  one  of  them  was  soon  lost  or  the  two  came  to  be 
used  in  slightly  different  senses.  This  may  be  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  French  and  English  by  the  conversation  of 
Wamba  and  Gurth  in  Scott's  Ivanhoe.  The  jester  there 
tells  how  English  swine  became  pork  on  the  table  of  the 
Norman,  how  ox  became  beef;  calf  veal;  and  he  might  have 
added  how  sheep  became  mutton.  Many  other  examples 
illustrate  a  similar  differentiation  in  use,  as  English  stool^ 
French  chair;  English  board,  French  table.  In  the  case  of 
board,  the  original  meaning  remains  in  such  expressions  as 
*  the  frugal  board,  *  bed  and  board,^  while  in  side-board  it 
has  considerably  changed  from  the  simple  side-table  of  a 
former  time. 

213.  Careful  examination  of  many  words  also  shows  that 
there  has  been  actual  change  in  usage,  even  when  the  two 
words  seem  to  be  practically  synonymous.  Note,  for  in- 
stance, the  slight  difference  in  usage  between  begin  and  com- 
mencejimb  and  member,  luck  axiA  fortune,  bloom  2CCiA  flower, 
bough  and  branch,  buy  and  purchase,  mild  and  gentle,  work 
and  labour,  wretched  and  miserable.  To  illustrate,  the  ex- 
pression *in  bloom'  is  equivalent  to  *in  flower,'  but  one 
does  not  speak  of  blooms  for  flowers.  So,  in  addition  to 
the  ordinary  usage  of  the  word,  one  may  say  *  a  limb  of  the 
law,'  but  not  *  a  limb  of  the  university.' 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS 


119 


214.  In  respect  to  numerical  relation  of  the  borrowed 
and  native  elements,  different  results  may  be  obtained 
according  to  the  method  employed  in  making  the  estimate. 
If  the  borrowed  element  be  computed  from  the  dictionaries, 
it  will  be  found  to  be  far  in  excess  of  the  number  of  native 
words.  By  such  a  computation  each  native  or  borrowed 
word  counts  but  once ;  while  many  native  words,  especially 
compounds,  are  not  given  a  separate  place  by  the  lexi- 
cographer, and  hence  are  not  usually  counted  at  all.  By 
the  ordinary  estimate  from  the  dictionary,  the  native  ele- 
ment is  found  to  contain  only  about  one-fourth  of  the 
whole  number  of  words  in  the  language.  This  might 
perhaps  be  increased  to  one-third,  if  all  native  compounds 
were  counted. 

215.  If,  however,  computations  are  made  of  the  native 
and  foreign  elements  in  actual  use,  each  word  of  either  class 
being  counted  wherever  and  whenever  it  occurs,  the  native 
element  will  certainly  be  far  in  excess  of  the  borrowed  in 
every  English  writer.  According  to  such  a  computation  the 
borrowed  element  is  seldom  more  than  thirty  per  cent, 
while  it  is  often  much  less,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  follow- 
ing table :  — 


Authors 

Native    Foreign 
Per  Cent 

Authors 

Native   Foreign 
Per  Cent 

Spenser 

86 

14 

Pope 

80           20 

Shakespeare 

90 

10 

Johnson 

72           28 

Bible  (Three 

Hume 

73         27 

Gospels) 

94 

6 

Gibbon 

70         30 

Milton 

81 

19 

Macaulay  (Essay 

Addison 

82 

18 

on  Bacon) 

75         25 

Swift 

75 

25 

Tennyson 

88         12 

120  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

2i6.  Some  idea  of  the  relations  of  the  two  elements  in 
actual  use  may  be  gained  from  the  following  selections,  in 
which  the  borrowed  words  are  italicized.  For  closer  compari- 
son poets  and  prose  writers  are  separated  from  each  other. 
Inflectional  endings,  as  -s  of  noun  plurals,  -j,  -ed^  and  -ing 
of  verbs,  all  belong  to  the  native  element,  and  are  therefore 
not  printed  in  italics.  The  same  is  true  of  some  derivative 
prefixes  and  suffixes.  In  making  these  selections  the  aim 
has  been  to  include  as  nearly  as  possible  one  hundred  words 
of  connected  English  prose  or  verse,  so  that  the  exact  pro- 
portion of  native  and  borrowed  words  may  be  more  easily 
seen.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  select  passages  which 
should  show  an  unusual  proportion  of  native  words. 

Shakespeare 

"  I,  thus  neglecAx\%  worldly  ends,  all  dedicatt^ 
To  closew^^  and  the  bettering  of  my  mind 
With  that  which,  but  by  being  so  retired, 
O^er  prized  2}\  popular  rate,  in  my  false  brother 
Awaked  an  evil  nature;  and  my  trust, 
I/ike  a  good  parent,  did  beget  of  him 
A  falsehood  in  its  contrary  as  great 
As  my  trust  was ;  which  had  indeed  no  limit, 
A  confidence  sans  bound.     He  being  thus  lorded, 
But  what  my  power  might  else  exact,  like  one 
Who  having  into  truth  by  telling  of  it 
Made  such  a  sinner  of  his  memory. 
To  credit  his  own  lie,  he  did  believe 
He  was  indeed  the  duke.^^ 

Tempest,  I,  ii,  89-103. 

Milton 

**0  Prince,  O  chief  oi  many  throned  power^^ 
That  led  the  embattled  seraphim  to  war 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS  121 

Under  thy  conduct,  and,  in  dreadful  deeds 
Fearless,  endangered  heaven's  perpehial  king, 
And  put  \o  proof  \\\?,  high  suprema.crf, 
Whether  upheld  by  strength,  or  chance,  ox  fate ; 
Too  well  I. see  and  rue  the  dire  event. 
That  with  sad  overthrow  and  foul  defeat 
Hath  lost  us  heaven  and  all  this  mighty  host 
In  horrible  destruction  laid  thus  low. 
As  far  as  gods  and  heavenly  essences 
Can  perish  :  for  the  mind  and  spirit  remains 
Invincible,  and  vigour  soon  returns, 
Though  all  our  glory  extinct,  and  happy  state 
Here  swallowed  up  in  endless  misery. ^^ 

Paradise  Lost,  I,  128-142. 

Pope 

'Not  with  more  glories  in  the  ethereal  plain. 
The  sun  first  rises  o'er  the  purpled  main, 
Then,  issuing  forth,  the  rival  of  his  beams 
Launched  on  the  bosom  of  the  silver'd  Thames. 
Fair  nymphs  and  weW-dressed  youths  around  her  shone. 
But  every  eye  wasfjc^d  on  her  alone. 
On  her  white  breast  a  sparkling  cross  she  wore 
Which  yervs  might  kiss,  and  infidels  adore. 
Her  lively  looks  a  sprightXy  mind  disclose. 
Quick  as  her  eyes  and  as  «;^;ired  as  those : 
Favours  to  none,  to  all  she  smiles  extends; 
Oft  she  rejects  but  never  once  offends. 
Bright  as  the  sun,  her  eyes  the  gazers  strike 
And  like  the  sun  they  shine  on  all  alike." 

The  Rape  of  the  Lock,  Canto  II,  1-14. 

Wordsworth 

"  For  I  have  learned 
To  look  on  nature,  not  as  in  the  hour 
Of  thoughtless  youth;   but  hearing  oftentimes 
The  still,  sad  music  of  humanity. 
Nor  harsh  nor  grating,  though  of  ample  power 


122  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 

To  chasttn  and  subdue.    And  I  have  felt 
A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  Joy 
Of  elevattA  thoughts ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused.^ 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air. 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit,  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thoughts 
And  rolls  through  all  things." 

Lines  on  Revisiting  the  Banks  of  the  Wye. 

Tennyson 

**  And  slowly  answered  Arthur  from  the  barge  : 
•The  old  order  changQih,  yielding  place  to  new, 
And  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways, 
Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world. 
Comfort  thyself:  what  comfort  is  in  me? 
I  have  lived  my  life,  and  that  which  I  have  done 
May  He  within  Himself  make  pure  !  but  thou, 
If  thou  shouldst  never  see  my  face  again, 
Pray  for  my  soul.     More  things  are  wrought  hy  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.'     Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 
Rise  like  9^  fountain  for  me  night  and  day." 

Morte  n Arthur. 

Bacon 

"•What  is  truth?*  said  jesting  Pilate;  and  would  not  stay  for  an 
answer.  Certainly  there  be  that  delight  in  giddiness;  and  count  it  a 
bondage  to  fix  a  belief;  affecting  free-will  in  thinking  as  well  as  in  act- 
ing. And  though  the  sect  of  philosophers  of  that  kind  be  gone,  yet 
there  remain  certain  discoursing  wits  which  are  of  the  same  veins, 
though  there  be  not  so  much  blood  in  them  as  was  in  those  of  the 
ancients,.  But  it  is  not  only  the  difficulty  and  labour  which  men  take  in 
finding  out  of  truth;  nor  again,  that  when  it  is  found  it  itnpose\\\  upon 
men's  thoughts,  that  doth  bring  lies  in  favour ;  but  a  natural  though 
corrupt  love  of  the  lie  itself."  —  Essay  on  Truth. 


RELATION  OF  THE  ELEMENTS  12S 


Dryden 

"It  was  that  memorable  day  in  the  first  summer  of  the  late  war, 
when  our  navy  engaged  the  Dutch;  a  day  wherein  the  two  most  mighty 
and  best  appointed,  fleets  which  any  age  had  ever  seen,  disputed,  the 
command  of  the  greater  half  of  the  globe,  the  commerce  of  nations,  and 
the  riches  of  the  universe :  while  these  vast  floating  bodies,  on  either 
side,  moved  against  each  other  in  parallel  lines,  and  our  countrymen, 
under  the  happy  conduct  of  his  royal  highness,  went  breaking  by  little 
and  little  into  the  rank  of  the  enemies  ;  the  noise  of  the  cannon  from 
both  navies  reached  our  ears  about  the  city,  so  that  all  men  being 
alarmed  with  it,  and  in  a  dreadful  suspense  of  the  event  which  they 
knew  was  then  deciding,  everyone  went  following  the  sound  as  his 
fancy  led  him."  —  Essay  of  Dramatic  Poesie. 

Swift 

•*  In  these  books  is  wonderfully  instilled  and  preserved  the  spirit  of 
each  warrior,  while  he  is  alive;  and  after  his  death  his  soul  trans- 
migrates there  to  inform  them.  This  at  least  is  the  more  common 
opinion;  but  I  believe  it  is  with  libraries  as  with  other  cemeteries', 
where  some  philosophers  affirm,  that  a  certain  spirit,  which  they  call 
brutum  hominis,  hovers  over  the  monument,  till  the  body  is  corrupted^ 
and  turns  to  dust,  or  to  worms,  but  then  vanishes  or  dissolves',  so,  we 
may  say,  a  restless  spirit  haunts  over  every  book  till  dust  or  worms 
have  seized  upon  it."  —  The  Battle  of  the  Books. 

Johnson 

**  Here  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Abyssinia  lived  only  to  know  the 
soft  vicissitudes  oi pleasure  and  repose,  attended  by  all  that  were  skiKxiS. 
to  delight,  and  gratified  with  whatever  the  sense  can  enjoy.  They 
wandered  in  gardens  oi  fragrance,  and  slept  ifi  the  fortresses  o{  security. 
Every  art  was  practised  to  make  them  pleased  with  their  own  condition. 
The  sages  who  instructed  them,  told  them  of  nothing  but  the  miseries 
of  public  life,  and  described  all  beyond  the  mountains  as  regions  of 
calamity,  where  discord  was  always  raging,  and  where  man  preyed 
upon  man."  —  Rasselas, 


124  THE  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY 


De  Quincey 

"The  silence  was  mort profound  than  that  of  midnight :  and  to  me 
the  silence  of  a  summer  morning  is  more  touching  than  all  other  silence, 
because,  the  light  being  broad  and  strong  as  that  of  noondsiy  at  other 
seasons  of  the  year,  it  seems  to  clij^er  from  perfect  day  chiefXy  because 
man  is  not  yet  abroad,  and  thus  the  peace  of  nattcre  and  of  the  innocent 
creatures  of  God,  seems  to  be  secure  and  deep  only  so  long  as  the 
presence  of  man,  and  his  wxiquiet  spirit,  are  not  there  to  trouble  its 
sanctity!''  —  Confessions  of  an  Opium  Eater, 

Macaulay 

"  Johnson  decided,  literary  questions  like  a  lawyer,  not  like  a  legis- 
lator. He  never  examined  foundations  where  a  point  was  already 
ruled.  His  whole  code  of  criticism  rested  on  pure  assumption,  for 
which  he  sometimes  quoted  a  precedent  or  an  authority,  but  rareXy 
troubled,  himself  to  give  a  reason  drawn  from  the  nature  of  things. 
He  took  it  iox  granted  that  the  kind  oi  poetry  which yfc'wr/j-^ed  in  his 
own  time,  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  hear  praised  from  hi.s 
childhood,  and  which  he  had  himself  written  with  success,  was  the  best 
kind  of  poetry.  In  his  biographical  work  he  has  repeatedly  laid  it 
down  as  an  undeniable  proposition  that  ^«ring  the  latter /<zr/ of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth,  English 
poetry  bdid  been  in  a  constant  progress  of  improvement." — Essay  ott 
BosweWs  Johnson, 


IV 


CHANGES    IN    THE    FORMS    OF 
WORDS 


CHAPTER  IX 

PHONETIC  CHANGES 

217.  It  is  impossible  in  the  space  of  this  booK  to 
attempt  a  history  of  all  changes  which  have  affected  Eng- 
lish words.  It  is  important,  however,  to  give  some  idea 
of  the  influences  which  have  modified  their  forms  and 
account  for  their  apparent  instability.  For  it  is  a  patent 
fact,  as  shown  by  many  of  the  examples  so  far  quoted,  that 
English  words  have  changed  in  no  inconsiderable  degree 
during  the  centuries  of  Enghsh  history.  An  attempt  will 
therefore  be  made  to  mark  the  relations  of  the  most 
important  influences  whith  must  be  taken  into  account 
in  tracing  the  life  history  of  words. 

218.  The  principal  influences  which  affect  words  in  any 
language  are  two, — phoneiic_change  and  analogy.  The  first, 
as  the  name  suggests,  applies  to  all  changes  in  individual 
sounds.  An  example  of  a  phonetic  change  may  be  seen  in 
ham  —  home,  the  two  forms  of  the  same  word  in  Old  and 
Modern  English.  While  the  consonants  of  these  two  forms 
have  remained  the  same,  the  vowel  which  was  once  like  a  -in 

125 


126  CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

father  has  become  like  o  in  no.  The  second  influence, 
called  false  analogy  by  some,  applies  to  those  changes  in 
words  as  distinct  from  individual  sounds,  which  make  them 
conform  to  other  words.  An  example  of  change  by  analogy 
is  the  substitution  of  the  regular  forms  older — oldest  for 
the  irregular  forms  ^/^<?r — eldest  Another  is  the  addition 
of  the  adverbial  ending  -ly  in  certainly,  in  order  to  make 
this  borrowed  word  conform  to  native  adverbs. 

219.  The  principal  condition  under  which  these  impor- 
tant influences  act  upon  language,  is  accent  or  stress.  That 
is,  the  stressed  and  unstressed  parts  of  words  are  differently 
affected  in  all  languages.  The  stressed  part  of  a  word,  for 
example,  is  always  affected  by  fewer  changes  than  the 
unstressed,  although  each  may  be  influenced  in  ways 
peculiar  to  itself.  Thus  MnE.  home  has  a  different  vowel 
from  OE.  ham,  but  the  vowel  quantity  is  the  same  in  each. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  adverbial  -ly  (OE.  lie,  MnE.  like^ 
once  had  a  long  vowel,  which  has  been  shortened,  and  a 
consonant,  which  has  entirely  disappeared.  The  same  is 
true  of  changes  due  to  analogy,  since  the  unstressed  part 
of  a  word  is  far  more  likely  to  be  modified  in  form  than 
that  bearing  the  stress.  Moreover,  not  only  is  the  stress 
of  a  word  to  be  considered  as  a  condition  of  its  life  history, 
but  also  its  usual  stress  in  the  sentence.  For  it  is  found 
that  words  which  commonly  receive  little  sentence  stress 
are  likely  to  be  modified  in  the  same  way  as  unstressed 
syllables.  This  has  already  been  exemplified  in  the  case 
of  some  words,  §  146. 

220.  Phonetic  changes  in  speech  sounds  are  due  to  two 
facts  of  language,  —  first,  imperfect  hearing  of  the  sounds 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  127 

Uttered  bj[^  others ;  and,  second,  imperfect  imitation  of  the 
sounds  heard.  Both  of  these  facts  of  language  plainly  ap- 
pear when  children  are  learning  to  talk.  Imperfect  imitation 
is  especially  noticeable  in  the  formation  of  certain  sounds, 
as  those  represented  by  th,  ch,  /,  and  r.  Imperfect  hearing 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  child  often  uses,  for  a  consid- 
erable time,  words  which  have  little  phonetic  likeness  to 
those  imitated.  The  language  of  children  is  of  course  far 
more  imperfect  than  that  of  adults.  Yet  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  latter  also  shows  many  individual  differences. 
Slight  as  these  are,  they  are  sufficient  to  account  in  time 
for  all  changes  known  to  have  taken  place  in  a  particular 
language,  or  in  languages  of  the  same  group  or  family. 

221.  In  illustrating  phonetic  changes  in  English,  those 
affecting  vowels  and  consonants  may  best  be  separated. 
Account  must  also  be  taken  of  stressed  and  unstressed  syl- 
lables, although,  unless  otherwise  mentioned,  stressed  sylla- 
bles are  always  intended.  In  general,  the  changes  affecting 
consonants  are  fewer  than  those  affecting  vowels,  since  con- 
sonants are  more  stable  than  vowels  in  the  history  of  all 
languages.  Indeed,  consonants  may  rightly  be  considered 
the  skeleton  and  framework  of  words,  while  vowels  are  the 
more  easily  modified  connecting  parts.  On  this  account 
the  English  consonants  will  be  first  treated. 

Phonetic  Changes  in  Consonants 

222.  The  general  history  of  English  consonants  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  statement  that  most  of  them  have 
remained  the   same  in  all   periods.      This  will  be  cleat 


128 


CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 


from  the  table  of  Modern  English  consonant  sounds  given 
below,  in  which  consonants  not  found  in  Old  English  are 
marked  with  a  star. 


Continuant. 

Momentary. 

Vowel-like. 

Spirants. 

Stops. 

Semi- 
Vowels. 

Liquids. 

Nasals. 

Voice. 

Breath. 

Voice. 

Breath. 

Labials    .    .    . 

W 

m 

V 

f 

b 

P 

Dentals    .    .    . 

n 

tb,iz 

th,  s 

d 

t 

Palatals   .     .     . 

y 

r,l 

*zh 

*sh 

Gutturals      .     . 

n(g,k) 

h 

g 

k 

Besides  those  in  the  table  above,  there  are  the  double 
consonants  hw  (written  wh),  *ch  (=  tsK),  *j  (=  dzK). 

223.  In  the  statement  that  few  changes  have  taken  place 
in  English  consonants,  no  account  is  made  of  orthography. 
In  fact,  as  Old  English  texts  are  now  printed,  most  of  the 
letters  used  are  those  of  Modern  English.  The  letters  have 
somewhat  different  values,  however.  The  main  differences 
are  that  f  and  s  were  used  for  both  f — v  and  s — z,  respec- 
tively; g  was  also  used  for  y,  and  c  for  k.  Besides,  the 
characters  ff  and  >  are  used  for  th  —  tb,  and  a  special  char- 
acter, no  longer  printed,  was  formerly  used  for  w.  Before 
the  close  of  the  Middle  English  period,  the  letters  of  the 
modern  alphabet  had  all  come  to  be  used. 

1  As  in  the,  distinct  from  th  as  in  thin. 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  12? 

224.  Of  the  new  consonant  sounds  in  Modern  English, 
that  represented  by  sh  has  sprung  from  the  Old  Enghsh 
combination  sc,  as  in  ship,  fish,  <  OE.  scip,  fisc.  The  sh 
sounds  of  native  words  were  increased  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  from  borrowed  words  with  the  com- 
bination sy  (written  si,  ti,  ce,  etc.),  which  also  became  sh 
in  sound.  Examples  are  passion,  nation,  ocean.  French 
words  with  sh  (written  ch)  are  also  found,  as  charade, 
chandelier.  In  a  very  few  words  this  sound  is  initial,  as 
in  sugar,  sumach,  sure,  surety,  from  forms  that  may  be 
written  syugar,  etc.  Toward  the  last  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  corresponding  voice  palatal  zh  as  in  azure 
began  to  be  recognized.  This  means  that  at  that  time 
the  voice  palatal  had  begun  to  develop  out  of  z  +  y,  as 
sh  had  sprung  from  s  +  y(i).  Examples  occur  in  usual, 
leisure,  pleasure,  osier. 

225.  The  double  consonant  ch  (^=  tsh)  in  native  words 
has  sprung  from  OE.  c,  as  in  chaff,  beech,  OE.  ceaf,  bece. 
The  same  sound  also  occurs  in  many  borrowed  words, 
especially  those  coming  from  French  in  Middle  English 
times,  as  change,  chance.  Besides,  it  developed  in  the 
eighteenth  century  from  the  combination  ty  in  such  words 
as  nature,  stature,  from  forms  pronounced  as  if  written 
natyure,  statyure.  The  corresponding  voice  sound  j  i^dzK) 
has  arisen  in  native  words  from  OE.  eg,  as  in  hedge,  bridge, 
<  OE.  hecg,  brycg.  It  also  occurs  in  many  borrowed 
words,  as  French  just,  judge,  and  from  words  with  the  com- 
bination dy,  as  in  verdure  <  verdyure.  The  latter  change 
belongs  to  the  eighteenth  century,  as  the  similar  change 
of  ty  to  ch,  mentioned  above.     In  many  cases  it  has  been 


130  CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

resisted,  as  shown  by  the  common  pronunciation  of  duty, 
immediately. 

226.  The  new  consonant  sounds  have  developed  in  both 
stressed  and  unstressed  syllables.  Besides,  there  have  also 
been,  in  the  history  of  English,  certain  general  consonantal 
changes  such  as  may  occur  in  the  history  of  any  language. 
These  may  be  arranged  under  various  heads,  as  voicing  and 
unvoicing,  assimilation  and  dissimilation,  addition,  vocaliza- 
tion, metathesis,  ecthlipsis.  Most  of  these  changes  may 
be  regarded  as  due  to  a  tendency  of  speech,  by  which  all 
sounds  are  made  to  conform,  in  greater  or  less  degree, 
to  neighbouring  sounds.  This  tendency  naturally  affects 
unstressed  syllables  much  more  largely  than  stressed  syl- 
lables, though  it  is  by  no  means  unknown  in  the  latter. 

Voicing  and  Unvoicing 

227.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  table,  §  222,  that  spirants 
and  stops  are  each  of  two  varieties,  distinguished  by  the 
terms  '  voice '  and  '  breath.'  By  this  is  meant  that,  in 
making  each  pair,  the  vocal  organs  are  in  exactly  the  same 
position,  but  the  voice  consonant  is  made  by  vibration  of 
the  vocal  cords,  and  the  breath  consonant  by  breath  only. 
It  is  not  unnatural,  therefore,  that  there  should  have  been- 
some  shiftings  in  the  case  of  each  pair  to  conform  to  neigh- 
bouring sounds.  The  change  from  breath  to  voice  conso- 
nant has,  however,  been  far  more  common  than  the 
reverse  change. 

228.  As  a  rule,  in  the  history  of  English,  the  spirants 
of  stressed  syllables  have  been  stable.  That  is,  the  voice 
sounds  have  remained  voiced,  and  the  breath  sounds,  aspi- 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  131 

rate.  In  the  Southern  dialect  of  Middle  English,  however, 
f  and  s  became  v  and  z  initially,  §  65.  This  may  be  well 
illustrated  from  King  Lear,  IV,  6,  240,  where  Edgar  assumes 
the  Southern  speech  to  conceal  his  identity.  In  the  few 
lines,  so,  sir,  swaggered,  appear  as  zo,  zir,  zwaggered,  and 
folk,  further,  fortnight,  as  volk,  vurther,  vortnight.  From 
this  Southern  dialect  standard  English  has  borrowed  a  few 
words,  as  vane,  vat,  vixen  (OE.  fana,  fset,  fyxen  *  female 
fox').  With  few  exceptions,  however,  every  word  in  Eng- 
hsh  with  initial  v  or  z  is  of  foreign  origin. 

229.  In  unstressed  syllables  or  words  the  shifting  of 
breath  to  voice  spirants  has  sometimes  occurred.  This 
accounts  for  the  difference  in  pronunciation  between  off 
and  of,  the  latter  being  usually  unstressed  in  the  sentence. 
Lack  of  stress  also  accounts  for  the  voice  spirant  th  in  with, 
and  initially  in  such  words  as  the,  then,  thus,  etc.  Shifting 
of  s  to  z  has  occurred  in  plurals,  as  hoes,  odds,  and  in 
verbs,  as  goes,  shades.  In  all  these  cases  the  s  was  orig- 
inally in  an  unstressed  syllable.  Shifting  of  s  in  unstressed 
words  has  occurred  in  as,  his,  is,  was,  compared  with  such 
words  as  loss,  toss.  Shifting  of  ch,  the  last  element  of 
which  is  a  spirant,  appears  in  knowledge  <  ME.  knowleche, 
and  ajar  <  ME.  on  char  *  on  the  turn,'  as  of  a  door. 

230.  The  voicing  of  breath  stops  has  occurred  in  few 
words.  Voicing  of  p,  t,  to  b,  d,  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
following  words,  the  first  of  which  is  the  Modern,  the  sec- 
ond the  Old  English  form. 

lobster  <  loppestre  proud  <  prut 

cobweb  <  cop  (web)  *  spider '  pride  <  pryte 

pebble  <  papol  clod  <  clote  *  clot  * 


132  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

In  the  latter  case,  the  form  clot  shows  the  original  t  still 
preserved.  Voicing  is  also  illustrated  by  such  double  forms 
as  dribble  —  drip,  hobble  —  hop.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
voicing  of  k  to  g  has  occurred  in  native  words.  It  seems 
to  occur  in  flagon,  sugar  <  French  flacon,  sucre,  and  in 
trigger  (earlier  tricker)  <  Dutch  trekker. 

231.  The  less  common  unvoicing  of  spirants  is  illustrated 
by  the  f,  s,  in  bereft,  lost,  compared  with  bereave,  lose. 
Unvoicing  of  b,  d,  has  also  occasionally  occurred  in  stressed 
syllables,  as  in  unkempt <  ME.  unkembed  'uncombed,'  in 
gossip  <  godsib  *  related  in  God,'  in  tilt  <  OE.  teldan,  and 
in  cuttle(fish)  <  OE.  cudele.  Final  d  has  also  become  t 
in  a  small  class  of  English  verbs,  §  413. 

Assimilation  and  Dissimilation 

232.  Sometimes  a  consonant  has  conformed  more  or  less 
completely  to  the  character  of  another  with  which  it  has 
been  brought  into  contact.  For  example,  assimilation  of 
the  labial  nasal  m  to  the  dental  nasal  n,  before  a  dental 
consonant,  has  occurred  in  ant<OE.  3em(e)te,  and  in 
Hants  <  Hamptonshire.  The  reverse  change  appears  in 
hemp  <  OE.  hen(e)p,  in  which  n  has  become  m  to  conform 
to  the  labial  p.  These  are  examples  of  partial  assimila- 
tion. Complete  assimilation  of  f  has  taken  place  in  Lam- 
mas <  OE.  hlafmsesse,  leman  <  leof man,  women  <  wif men. 
A  similar  change  of  d  may  be  seen  in  gossip  <  ME.  godsib, 
and  of  th  in  Suffolk  <  Southfolk. 

233.  Dissimilation  is  the  reverse  of  assimilation.  When 
near  a  like  sound,  a  consonant  is  sometimes  changed  to 
avoid  unpleasant  repetition.     This  change  is  illustrated  by 


PHONETIC  CHANGES  133 

marble  <  ME.  marbre,   purple  <  purpre,   in   which  r  has 
become  1  to  avoid  the  combinations  rbr,  rpr. 

Addition  or  Excrescence 

234.  Sometimes  a  consonant  sound  not  originally  belong- 
ing to  the  word  is  added  between  two  other  consonants  or 
after  another  final  consonant.  This  is  no  doubt  due  to 
what  may  be  called  ease  of  pronunciation,  or  sometimes  to 
analogy.  Addition  of  the  stops  p — b,  t  —  d,  has  been  the 
most  common  in  English.  Examples  of  excrescent  p  are 
empty  <0E.  semtig,  sempstress  <  seam (e)stre,  gHmpse< 
ME.  glimsen.  Excrescent  b  occurs  in  embers  <  ME.  em- 
(e)res,  bramble  <  ME.  bramel,  limb  <  OE.  Hm.  Addition 
of  t  is  seen  in  behest  <  OE.  behaes,  earnest  <  ME.  ernes ; 
also  in  against,  amidst,  betwixt,  whilst,  from  older  forms 
ending  in  s.  Excrescent  d  occurs  in  sound  <  ME.  soun, 
bound  '  prepared  '  <  ME.  boun,  as  also  in  dwindle,  gander, 
kindred,  spindle,  thunder. 

235.  Addition  due  to  a  wrong  division  of  two  words 
occurs  in  newt  <  ME.  an  efete,  nickname  <  ME.  an  eke- 
name,  by  transfer  of  the  final  n  in  the  preceding  word. 
Similar  are  the  Shakespearean  nuncle,  nawl,  for  uncle,  awl. 
Orthographic,  rather  than  phonetic,  addition  occurs  in 
island  <  ME.  Hand,  and  in  could  <  ME.  coude.  In  such 
cases  the  added  consonant  was  never  pronounced. 

Vocalization 

236.  Consonants  sometimes  shade  out  into  vowels,  so 
that  they  lose  consonantal  quality  entirely.  This  change 
most  commonly  affects  consonant  sounds  which  are  most 


134  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS  OF  WORDS 

like  vowels,  as  semi-vowels,  liquids,  nasals,  and  voice  spi- 
rants.    For  example,  w  has  become  vocalized  in  swallow 

<  OE.  swalwe,  as  also  in  two,  who,  ooze  <  woose.  So 
y(<OE.  ge-)  became  regularly  vocahzed  in  Middle  Eng- 
lish, although  it  is  still  preserved  as  a  vowel   in   enough 

<  OE.  genoh.  The  liquid  1  has  been  vocalized  in  such 
words  as  talk,  calm,  half,  and  r  also,  except  before  a 
vowel,  in  London  English  as  well  as  in  some  parts  of  Amer- 
ica. The  OE.  voice  spirant  f(=v)  has  become  vocalized 
since  OE.  times  in  head  <  heafod,  lord  <  hlaford  (*hlaf- 
weard  '  loaf- guard ') .  Even  when  consonants  do  not  be- 
come fully  vocalized  they  may  become  vocalic,  that  is,  they 
may  assume  some  of  the  powers  of  a  vowel.  This  applies 
especially  to  the  liquids  1,  r,  and  the  nasals  m,  n,  which 
may  make  syllables  without  the  intervention  of  a  vowel,  as 
in  apple  (apl),  timber  (timbr),  fathom  (fathm),  even  (evn). 

Metathesis,  Ecthlipsis,  Substitution 

237.  By  metathesis  is  meant  change  of  a  consonant  from 
one  position  to  another  within  the  word.  One  of  the  most 
common  consonants  to  suffer  metathesis  is  r.  Examples  are 
bird  <  OE.  brid,  fresh  <  fersc,  grass  <  gaers.  By  the  same 
change  ps  has  often  become  sp,  as  in  wasp  <  OE.  wseps, 
hasp  <  OE.  haepse,  clasp  <  ME.  clapsen.  Dialectal  ax 
beside  the  normal  ask  shows  change  of  sk  to  ks  (x). 

238.  Ecthlipsis  is  the  loss  of  a  consonant.  Most  exam- 
ples usually  called  ecthlipsis  are  really  vocalization,  §  236. 
Examples  of  real  ecthlipsis  are  words  showing  loss  of  initial 
n  by  reason  of  the  wrong  division  of  a  group  made  up  of 
the  article  an  and  a  following   noun.     The  words  adder, 


I 


PHONETIC  CHANGES  135 

auger^  should  have  initial  n,  since  they  are  derived  from 
nsedre,  nafe-gar.  Such  a  word  as  ope  <  open  lost  its  final 
n  by  analogy  of  Middle  English  words  with  an  inflectional 
en  ending.  Another  example  of  the  latter  sort  is  mistletoe, 
which  should  be  mistleton. 

239.  Sometimes  one  consonant  takes  the  place  of  an- 
other with  no  apparent  phonetic  reason,  although  no  doubt 
some  phonetic  reason  will  be  found  in  the  future.  Exam- 
ples in  which  f  has  been  substituted  for  an  original  spirant 
h(g)  are  laugh,  tough,  cough,  rough.  Substitution  of  d 
for  th  has  occurred  in  fiddle  <  OE.  fia^ele,  murder  <  morffer, 
rudder  <  roffer.  Substitution  of  th  for  t,  owing  to  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  written  form,  appears  in  such  words  as 
authority  <  OF.  autorite,  authorite  (th  =  t) .  The  substitu- 
tion has  never  taken  place  in  Thomas,  Thames,  in  which  th 
is  still  pronounced  t. 


CHAPTER  X 

PHONETIC  CHANGES  IN  VOWELS 

240.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  consonants  have  in 
general  been  preserved  through  all  periods  of  English, 
although  there  have  been  occasional  changes  of  most  of 
them.  The  reverse  is  true  of  the  English  vowels  in  the 
course  of  their  history.  In  the  majority  of  words  in  which 
it  occurs  no  long  vowel,  or  diphthong,  has  retained  the 
same  quality  as  in  the  oldest  time.  Most  of  them  also 
have  passed  through  several  changes  in  the  course  of  their 
history.  Besides,  most  of  the  short  vowels  have  also  changed 
quality  at  least  once  since  EngUsh  began  to  be  spoken  in 
Britain.  Finally,  while  consonants  are  in  the  main  stable 
in  the  various  dialects  of  English,  considerable  dialectal 
differences  occur  in  the  case  of  the  vowels. 

241.  The  only  Old  English  vowels  that  have  remained 
^    the  same,  or  practically  so,  in  all  periods  are  short  i  and  e. 

Short  0  has  remained  much  the  same  in  British  English,  but 
in  the  Enghsh  of  Scotland  and  the  United  States  it  has 
generally  become  short  a,  as  in  artistic.  In  some  words 
short  u,  as  in  full,  also  has  the  same  sound  as  in  the 
oldest  period,  although  the  spelling  has  sometimes  changed. 
Examples  are  full,  wolf,  wood,  wool.  In  the  majority  of 
words,  however.  Old  EngHsh  u  has  become  a  very  different 
sound,  that  of  the  vowel  in  but.     Again,  the  vowel  of  such 

136 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  IN  VOWELS 


137 


words  as  hat  is  the  same  now  as  in  the  oldest  period,  but 
it  has  not  been  the  same  in  all  the  intervening  time. 

242.  The  history  of  all  the  changes  in  quality  which 
vowels  have  undergone  belongs  to  more  elaborate  treatises. 
Some  idea  of  them  may  be  gained  from  the  following  table, 
which  represents  the  most  common  sources  of  Modern 
English  vowels,  with  some  examples :  — 

The  Long  Vowels 


a.     .     . 

OE.  ea,  ME.  a  +  r,  or  r  +  cons. 

are,  arm. 

OE.  ME.  e  +  r,  or  r  +  cons,  (sometimes) 

star,  carve. 

£8       .      . 

OE.  ME.  a  or  86  +  r 

hare,  there. 

OE.  £e(a),  ME.  a  +  f,  th,  s  (sometimes) 

calf,  bath,  fast. 

e  (iy)  . 

OE.  £e,  e  +  g(h),  ME.  ai,  ei 

day,  way. 

OE.  a,  ME.  a 

name,  same. 

iOy)  ■ 

OE.  \  (WS.  £§),  Ea,  ME.  \ 

heat,  leaf. 

OE.  e,  eo,  ME.  I 

feel,  thief. 

Q(law). 

OE.  a  +  w,  gCh),  ME.  au 

haw,  draw. 

OE.  Q  4-  w,  g(h),  ME.  Qu 

bought,  thought. 

0  (ou)  . 

OE.  a  (iw),  ME.  g 

home,  blow. 

OE.  6  +  w,  g(h),  ME.  ou 

grow,  (rain)  bow. 

ii  (uw)  . 

OE.  ME.  5 

doom. 

The  Short  Vowels 


a .     .     . 

OE.  ME.  0,  especially  in  America 

not,  lot. 

3e  (man) 

OE.  £6,  ea,  a(Q),  ME.  a 

hat,  man. 

3  (her)  . 

OE.  ME.  e,  i,  0,  u  +  r,  or  r  +  cons. 

her,  bird,  word,  spur. 

B  (but)  . 

OE.  ME.  u 

sun,  run. 

e .     .     . 

OE.  ME.  e 

helm. 

i  .     .     . 

OE.  i,  y,  ME.  i(y) 

sit,  pit. 

Q.      .      ■ 

OE.  ME.  0,  in  London  English 

not,  lot. 

u .     .     . 

OE.  ME.  u  after  labial  consonants 

full,  pull. 

138 


CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 


The  Diphthongs 

ai     .     . 

OE.  i,  y,  ME.  i(y) 

while,  mice. 

au    .     . 

OE.  ME.  Q 

house. 

iu     .     . 

OE.  e  +  w,  ME.  eu(iu) 

few,  new. 

oi     .     . 

ME.  oi,  §  247 

join,  choice. 

243.  The  general  changes  affecting  vowels  in  English 
have  been  numerous  and  various  in  character.  There  have 
been,  for  example,  changes  in  quality  and  quantity,  and 
sometimes  in  both.  Phonetic  changes  have  also  been  differ- 
ent in  the  case  of  stressed  and  unstressed  vowels,  so  that 
each  of  these  must  be  considered  separately.  The  phonetic 
changes  in  English  which  apply  to  large  classes  of  words 
will  be  discussed  in  the  following  sections,  the  reference 
being  to  stressed  syllables  unless  otherwise  stated. 


Shortening  and  Lengthening 

244.  Long  vowels  have  been  frequently  and  regularly 
shortened  in  the  history  of  English.  For  example,  shorten- 
ing occurred  in  Middle  English  before  two  or  more  con- 
sonants, as  slept  <  OE.  slaepte,  kept  <  cepte.  Long  vowels 
were  also  shortened  before  a  suffix  or  word  making  a  second 
syllable,  as  wisdom,  shepherd,  bonfire,  compared  with  wise, 
sheep,  bone.  Shortening  has  also  occurred  before  dental 
consonants.  The  following  words  with  short  vowels,  red, 
dead,  blood,  hot,  wet,  fat,  breath,  death,  ten,  been,  all  had  long 
vowels  or  long  diphthongs  in  Old  English.  A  long  vowel 
has  also  been  shortened  in  early  or  late  times  before  final  k, 
as  in  suck,  sick,  wick,  book,  look,  took. 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  IN  VOWELS  139 

245.  Lengthening    also    has    regularly   affected    certain 
short  vowels.     Short   vowels   in   monosyllables  were   early 
lengthened,  as  in  such  words  as  he,  me,  we,  and  Scotch      * 
weel  compared  with  English  well.     In  Middle  English,  short 
vowels  were  lengthened  before  a  single  medial  consonant, 

as  in  hasel,  naked,  weasel,  in  all  of  which  the  vowel  was 
originally  short.  Lengthening  also  took  place  before  certain 
consonant  combinations,  as  in  old,  field,  child,  find,  hound, 
beard,  board,  climb.  In  some  of  these  the  Middle  English 
long  vowel  later  became  a  diphthong.  In  the  middle 
period  of  English  also,  similar  lengthenings  occurred  in 
words  borrowed  from  French,  as  change,  danger,  bounce, 
ounce,  count,  amount.  Late  lengthenings  have  occurred 
in  such  words  as  all  ^nd  small. 

246.  A  special  kind  of  lengthening  is  due  to  the  vocal- 
ization of  a  following  consonant.  ^  This  is  called  compensa- 
tory lengthening.  Examples  of  an  early  lengthening  of  this 
sort  are  goose,  tooth,  in  which  the  original  short  vowel  was 
followed  by  n.  Compare  German  Gans  'goose.'  Com- 
pensatory lengthening  also  accounts  for  a  long  vowel  which 
later  became  a  diphthong,  as  in  night,  light,  bright. 

MONOPHTHONGING  AND  DiPHTHONGING 

247.  Diphthongs  have  become  monophthongs,  or  simple 
vowels,  by  the  loss  of  one  element.  For  example,  rule  was 
once  pronounced  with  the  diphthong  iu  instead  of  the 
simple  vowel  u,  as  at  present.  Similarly,  all  Old  Englisl.  y/ 
diphthongs  became  monophthongs  in  Middle  English  times. 
Owing  to  this  the  Old  English  diphthong  eo,  for  instance, 

has  had  the  same   development  as   the   simple  vowel  5. 


140  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS  OF  WORDS 

Compare  deep  <  OE.  deop  with  feet  <  OE.  fet.  On  the 
other  hand,  simple  vowels  have  also  become  diphthongs, 
as  in  find  and  found  <  ME.  finden,  funden.  Sometimes 
the  second  element  of  a  diphthong  has  developed  from  a 
consonant  by  vocalization,  §  236.  Thus  the  Middle  English 
diphthong  ai  sprang  from  OE.  aeg,  as  in  dai(y)  <  OE.  daeg. 
In  one  of  these  two  ways  all  Modern  English  diphthongs 
came  into  existence,  except  oi,  which  occurs  only  in 
borrowed  words. 

Palatalization  and  Gutturalization 

248.  Speech  sounds  vary  in  quality  according  as  they 
are  formed  in  the  front  or  back  of  the  mouth.  Thus  among 
the  vowels,  a  (man),  e  (hen),  i  (hit)  are  front,  or  palatal, 
vowels,  and  a  (artistic),  0  (hot),  u  (full)  are  back,  or  guttural, 
vowels.  The  change  by  which  a  speech  sound  comes  to 
be  formed  farther  forward  in  the  mouth  is  called  palataliza- 
tion, and  the  reverse  process  gutturalization.  These  proc- 
esses affect  consonants  as  well  as  vowels,  but  are  much 
more  important  in  the  case  of  the  latter. 

249.  Both  palatalization  and  gutturalization  have  been 
common  in  the  history  of  English  vowel  sounds.  For 
example,  OE.  ae  (hat),  a  front  vowel,  became  a  (artistic), 
a  back  vowel,  in  Middle  English,  and  has  again  become  a 
front  vowel  in  the  modern  period.  Besides,  a  front  vowel 
may  suffer  palatalization  by  being  formed  still  farther  for- 
ward in  the  mouth.  The  word  pretty  originally  contained 
the  vowel  a  (man),  and  this  later  became  e  (hen),  and 
finally  i  (hit)  as  in  the  present  pronunciation.     So  also  a 


PHONETIC  CHANGES  IN  VOWELS  141 

guttural  vowel  may  be  formed  still  farther  back  in  the 
mouth.  These  two  processes  account  for  many  changes 
in  the  history  of  English  vowels. 

Mutation 

250.  Both  vowels  and  diphthongs  may  suffer  special 
changes  under  some  special  influences.  One  of  the  most 
important  of  these  in  the  history  of  English  occurred  in  Old 
English  times,  and  is  called  by  the  special  name  mutation. 
Mutation  is  the  change  in  quality  of  a  stressed  vowel  by 
reason  of  a  following  vowel  or  consonant  in  the  same  word. 
It  is,  in  reality,  an  attempt  to  accommodate  the  quality  of  a 
preceding,  to  that  of  a  following,  sound.  The  most  impor- 
tant of  the  changes  due  to  mutation  were  produced  by  a 
following  i  or  y ,  according  to  the  scheme  :  — 


a  became  e. 

a  became  q  rWS.  SB). 

0       «     e(y). 

5       "       e. 

u       «     y. 

a      «      y. 

251.  Mutation  of  the  short  vowels  may  be  exemplified 
by  many  Modern  English  words.  The  variation  a>^e  has 
its  simplest  representative  in  man  —  men,  in  which  the 
mutated  form  came  to  be  used  as  plural  only.  The  same 
change  appears  in  Frank  —  French,  Wales  —  Welch,  Cant(er- 
bury) — Kent,  bank  —  bench,  fall  —  fell.  Other  examples 
of  this  mutation  have  already  been  mentioned  in  §  139. 
The  mutation  0  >  e  would  scarcely  be  recognized  in  over  — 
eaves  (OE.  ofer  —  efesa) ,  yet  these  two  words  are  connected 

1  The  sign  >  is  to  be  read  '  to.' 


142  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

through  this  vowel  variation.  The  mutation  o  >  y,  more 
exactly  an  older  u  >  y,  appears  in  gold  —  gild  (OE.  gylden) , 
fore  —  first  (OE.  fyrst),  corn  —  kernel  (OE.  cyrnel).  Ex- 
amples of  the  mutation  u  >  y  are  full  —  fill  (OE.  fyllan), 
lust  —  list  *  to  choose,*  a  word  found  in  Shakespeare. 

252.  There  are  many  examples  of  the  results  of  mutation 
of  long  vowels,  although  later  phonetic  changes  have  much 
obscured  the  original  sounds.  The  Old  English  a>^(») 
mutation  accounts  for  the  connection  of  such  words  as  dole 

—  deal,  lode  —  lead,  sow  —  seed,  (w)  hole  —  heal.  The  OE. 
o>e  mutation  explains  goose  —  geese,  tooth  —  teeth,  foot 

—  feet,  in  which  the  mutated  forms  are  now  used  as  plurals. 
Other  examples  are  doom  —  deem,  food  —  feed,  grow  — 
green.  Mutation  of  u  >  y  occurs  in  mutated  plurals  as 
mouse  —  mice,  louse  —  lice,  as  well  as  in  such  words  as  foul 

—  (de)  file,  proud  —  pride. 

Contraction  and  Substitution 

253.  By  contraction  is  meant  the  fusion  of  two  vowels 
into  one.  This  may  occur  within  a  stressed  syllable,  or  a 
stressed  and  unstressed  syllable  may  be  brought  together  by 
contraction,  as  when  a  consonant  is  lost  or  two  words  are 
united  in  a  compound.  Contraction  has  occurred  in  the 
development  of  many  English  words,  as  in  lord  <  hlaford, 
§  149  j  friend  <  freond  (*frijond).  Examples  of  two  words 
united  into  one  by  contraction  are  don  <  do  on,  dofif  <  do 
off.  Contraction  within  a  stressed  syllable  is  illustrated 
by  the  OE.  diphthongs  ea,  eo,  which  became  the  simple 
vowels  |,  e  in  Middle  English. 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  IN  VOWELS  143 

254.  Occasional  variation  in  vowels  of  stressed  syllables 
to  which  a  phonetic  cause  cannot  be  so  easily  assigned  may 
be  classed  under  the  general  name  substitution.  Substitu- 
tion Seldom  takes  place  in  the  case  of  long  vowels,  and  in 
short  vowels  is  limited  to  those  which  do  not  differ  greatly 
in  pitch,  or  in  position  of  the  vocal  organs  when  producing 
them.  Thus  substitution  of  i  for  e,  e  for  i  or  a  {man),  and 
a  {man)  for  e  are  most  common.  Examples  of  the  substi- 
tution of  e  for  i  are  pepper  <  OE.  pipor ;  chest  <  OE.  cist, 
cest.  Examples  of  e  for  a  {man)  are  together  <  OE.  to- 
gaedere ;  whether  <  hwaeSer,  the  substitution  in  these  cases 
being  probably  due  to  lack  of  stress  in  the  sentence.  Short 
i  for  e  is  found  in  willow  <  OE.  welig ;  rid  <  hreddan.  An 
example  of  a  {man)  for  e  is  thrash  (thresh)  <  tSerscan. 

Unstressed  Syllables 

255.  The  preceding  general  vowel  changes  apply  espe- 
cially to  stressed  syllables,  although  shortening  and  con- 
traction also  occur  in  unstressed  syllables  in  English.  In 
addition  to  shortening,  the  vowels  of  unstressed  syllables 
suffer  obscuration  in  sound,  and  in  many  cases  ultimate 
loss.  In  this  way  the  inflectional  endings,  which  belonged 
originally  to  English  speech,  have  gradually  disappeared. 
Other  parts  of  the  word,  not  inflectional,  have  also  been 
gradually  obscured  and  have  finally  disappeared,  thus  ac- 
counting for  many  abbreviated  and  contracted  forms.  There 
are  thus  certain  general  vowel  changes  which  are  peculiar 
to  unstressed  syllables,  and  account  for  many  changes  in 
words.  The  most  important  are  weakening,  syncope, 
apheresis,  and  apocope. 


144  CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

256.  Weakening.  —  The  obscuration  in  sound  that 
vowels  of  unstressed  syllables  undergo,  may  be  called  by 
the  general  name  weakening.  In  Old  English,  unstressed 
vowels  of  whatever  original  quality  or  quantity  had  weakened 
to  a,  e,  0,  u.  In  Middle  English  these  were  still  further 
weakened  to  e.  Since  Middle  English  times  the  process 
of  weakening  has  gone  on  to  the  total  loss  of  many  un- 
stressed vowels,  as  shown  in  the  following  paragraphs,  while 
a  new  vowel  weakening  has  also  resulted.  The  vowels  of 
unstressed  syllables  in  Modern  English  have  commonly 
come  to  have  the  quality  of  the  vowels  in  bit  or  but. 

257.  One  form  of  vowel  weakening  is  that  by  which  i,  u, 
became  the  semi-vowels  y,  w.  The  first  of  these  is  shown 
by  the  development  of  y  initially  in  French  or  Latin  words 
beginning  with  u,  originally  the  diphthong  iu  as  in  use,  union, 
Utica.  These  words  are  phonetically  yuse,  yunion,  etc., 
the  y  having  come  from  the  unstressed  i  of  the  original 
diphthong.  The  weakening  of  u  to  w  is  less  common. 
Examples  are  one,  phonetically  like  won,  woof<owef. 

258.  Syncope.  —  Syncope  is  the  loss  of  a  vowel  within 
the  word.  This  has  taken  place  in  many  inflectional 
endings  in  English.  For  example,  the  possessive  singular 
and  the  whole  plural  of  nouns  ended  in  -es  in  Middle  Eng- 
lish. The  syncopation  of  e  in  most  words  has  since  reduced 
this  -es  to  -s,  the  common  form  of  the  possessive  singular 
and  of  the  plural.  Similar  syncopation  has  taken  place  in 
the  -ed  ending  of  weak  verbs,  except  those  ending  in  t  or  d. 
In  the  -en  participial  ending  of  strong  verbs,  e  has  wholly 
disappeared  from  the  written  form  in  such  words  as  born, 
torn,  thrown.     Other  examples  of  syncopation  affecting  the 


PHONETIC   CHANGES  IN  FOJVELS  145 

form  of  particular  words  are,  adze  <  adesa  ;  else  <  elles ; 
hence  <  ME.  henes.  In  Scotch  <  Scotisc,  Welsh  <  *  Welisc, 
i  has  suffered  a  similar  syncopation. 

259.  Apheresis.  —  By  apheresis  is  meant  the  loss  of  an 
unaccented  vowel  at  the  beginning  of  a  word.  For  example, 
the  OE.  prefix  ge-  became  i(y)-  in  ME.,  after  which  it  was 
regularly  dropped  by  apheresis,  except  in  such  archaic  forms 
as  y-clept;  compare  also  §  236.  There  has  been  a  similar 
apheresis  of  e-  in  words  from  Old  French  beginning  with 
esc-.  This  has  given  such  forms  as  squire  <  OF.  esquier ; 
scorn  <  OF.  escorner ;  scour  <  OF.  escurer.  Other  common 
words  illustrating  the  change  are  down  <  ME.  adoun  ;  way- 
ward and  lone  <  awayward,  alone.  As  a  result  of  apheresis 
double  forms  occur  as  alone  —  lone,  adown  —  down,  away 
—  way  in  native  words,  escape  —  scape,  account  —  count, 
apprentice  —  prentice  among  foreign  words. 

260.  Apocope.  — This  term  is  used  for  the  loss  of  a  final 
vowel.  It  therefore  applies  to  the  loss  of  many  inflectional 
endings  since  Old  English  times,  and  full  illustration  of  it 
naturally  belongs  to  the  subject  of  inflections.  Besides, 
every  final  e  of  Middle  English,  whether  inflectional  or 
otherwise,  has  since  suffered  apocope,  although  often  re- 
tained in  the  written  form  after  long  vowels,  as  in  ale,  mete, 
mite,  more,  mute.  Many  other  examples  of  apocope  might 
be  cited. 

Vowels  of  Borrowed  Words 

261.  No  special  attempt  has  been  made  to  notice  the 
vowels  of  borrowed  words.  In  general,  they  have  ranged 
themselves  with  similar  vowels  of  native  words  and  have 


146  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

suffered  similar  changes.  For  instance,  foreign  words 
entering  early  Old  English  were  affected  by  mutation,  the 
greatest  change  in  the  vowels  of  English  words  within  a 
single  period.  The  same  is  true  of  borrowed  words  in  other 
periods  of  English.  Vowel  changes  have  therefore  been 
illustrated  in  the  preceding  sections  mainly  by  native 
words. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ANALOGY  m  ENGLISH 

262.  The  second  important  influence  which  affects  the 
forms  of  words  is  analogy.  This  is  a  tendency  of  the  mind 
to  make  a  small  number  of  irregular  forms  like  the  larger 
number  of  regular  forms.  Analogy  may  be  best  illustrated 
by  the  language  of  children,  whose  analogical  tendency  is 
unchecked  by  any  idea  of  correctness  in  speech.  Thus 
the  child,  influenced  by  the  large  group  of  adjectives  com- 
pared regularly,  as  strong — stronger — strongest,  compares 
good  in  the  same  way,  as  good — gooder — goodest.  So, 
under  the  influence  of  the  great  majority  of  nouns  forming 
their  plurals  in  -si^-es),  the  child  says  man  —  mans,  goose — 
gooses.  The  child  also  uses  draw — drawed,  give — gived, 
thus  making  these  irregular  verbs  conform  to  the  larger 
number  of  regular  verbs.  Such  forms  are  called  incorrect, 
yet  they  result  from  the  same  tendency  which  has  aifected 
English  of  all  periods,  and  to  which  many  important 
changes  are  due. 

263.  Analogy  as  a  force  in  the  development  of  language 
depends  upon  the  fact,  that  the  mind  takes  cognizance  of 
the  word  in  a  somewhat  different  way  from  that  of  the 
individual  sounds.  The  word  exists  as  a  separate  entity, 
the  sign  of  a  particular  idea,  and  as  such  enters  into  various 

147 


148  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS    . 

syntactical  relations.  Owing  to  this,  words  may  have 
thought  relations  quite  impossible  to  individual  sounds,  and 
suffer  changes  of  which  the  latter  are  incapable. 

264.  All  words  are  grouped  in  the  mind  according  as 
they  have  similarity  in  form  or  use.  For  instance,  the  in- 
flected forms  boy — boy's  —  boys^  —  boys\  man  —  man's  — 
7nen  —  men's  exemplify  inflected  groups,  the  individuals  of 
which  are  associated  together  because  of  like  stems.  In 
a  similar  manner  all  the  forms  of  a  single  verb,  or  of  an 
inflected  adjective,  as  in  Latin  or  German,  form  similar 
inflected  groups.  Other  groups  on  the  basis  of  form  are 
also  made,  as  of  all  words  inflected  like  boy — boys,  and  all 
like  man  —  men.  So  all  weak^  verbs,  because  of  similar  in- 
flection, form  a  class  by  themselves,  and  all  strong  verbs 
another  class.  The  verb  also,  with  its  more  numerous 
forms,  may  present  such  minor  groups  as  the  forms  of  the 
present  tense,  love — loves ^  beside  the  forms  of  the  past 
tense,  as  loved^  swore. 

265.  Words  are  also  grouped  together  as  they  perform 
similar  functions  in  the  expression  of  thought.  For  ex- 
ample, all  nouns,  all  verbs,  all  adjectives,  as  expressing 
objects,  actions,  and  qualities,  form  separate  groups.  All 
nominatives,  especially  when  they  have  different  forms  as 
in  English  pronouns,  may  constitute  a  group  separate  from 
all  accusatives ;  or  all  plurals  ending  in  -s  may  be  classed 
together.     So  all  past  tenses  of  weak  verbs,  as  distinct  from 

1  The  terms  weak  and  strong  for  verbs  are  used  as  more  distinctive  than 
such  terms  as  regular  and  irregular.  The  weak  verbs  are  those  with  pret- 
erits in  d{t)  or  ed ;  the  strong  verbs  have  vowel  variation  in  the  preterit, 
as  sing — sang. 


^  ANALOGY  IN  ENGLISH  149 

all  present  tenses,  form  a  group  by  themselves.  In  all 
these  cases  the  grouping  clearly  depends  on  likeness  of 
function  or  use. 

266.  Naturally  the  idea  of  regularity  in  a  certain  class 
of  words  is  associated  with  the  largest  group.  Thus  the 
weak  verbs  in  English  are  thought  of  as  regular,  although 
many  of  them  are  of  later  formation  than  the  strong  verbs. 
Moreover,  as  regularity  is  always  associated  in  the  mind 
with  the  larger  group,  the  analogical  tendency  is  constantly 
influencing  words  of  the  smaller  group,  and  if  not  restrained 
would  eventually  make  them  all  conform  to  one  type.  For 
example,  the  weak  verbs  have  won  over  a  considerable 
number  of  the  strong  verbs  in  the  history  of  English.  Yet 
the  idea  of  regularity  depends  not  on  numbers  alone.  A 
small  group,  because  of  the  frequency  with  which  its  mem- 
bers are  used,  may  attract  to  itself  some  words  of  a  larger 
group.  Thus,  while  the  weak  verbs  have  usually  influenced 
the  strong,  in  one  or  two  cases  verbs  which  were  weak,  as 
dig,  wear,  have  assumed  strong  forms  as  dug,  wore. 

267.  Analogy  has  been  particularly  strong  in  the  history 
of  English.  By  it  many  words  and  classes  of  words  have 
been  modified  in  form,  while  many  new  words  have  come 
into  existence  under  its  influence.  Indeed,  this  regularizing 
tendency  may  be  said  to  characterize  the  whole  Teutonic 
family,  although  it  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  one  language 
or  to  one  time.  Among  the  Teutonic  languages  the  analog- 
ical tendency  has  been  stronger  in  Low  German  than  in 
High  German  dialects,  and  English  shows,  even  more  than 
most  other  Low  German  tongues,  the  strength  of  this  impor- 
tant factor  in  linguistic  changes.     In  discussing  analogy  in 


ISO  CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

English  its  influence  will  be  considered,  first  in  relation  to 
individual  words,  next  as  to  inflections  and  syntax. 

Analogy  affecting  Prefixes  and  Suffixes 

268.  One  of  the  best  examples  of  analogy  in  English  is 
the  extension  of  a  common  suffix  to  words  of  which  it  was 
not  originally  a  part.  For  example,  the  adverbial  suffix  -ly 
is  the  common  one  in  Modern  English.  The  form  from 
which  it  is  derived  was  frequently  used  in  Old  English,  but 
there  were  other  adverbial  endings  almost  equally  common. 
Gradually,  however,  the  latter  lost  their  force  and  the  more 
distinctive  ending  -ly  took  their  place,  until  it  has  now 
almost  supplanted  every  other  adverbial  form.  Even  such 
an  adverb  as  first  constantly  tends  to  become  firstly,  under 
the  influence  of  secondly,  thirdly,  and  others  of  the  series. 

269.  A  suffix  may  not  only  be  extended  in  use,  but  may 
modify  or  replace  another  suffix.  The  ending  -ing  belonged 
originally  to  nouns  only,  but  later  displaced  the  participial 
suffix  -ende,  as  in  fishing,  loving.  One  of  the  commonest 
English  suffixes  for  adjectives  is  -y,  as  in  holy.  This  has 
replaced  the  French  suffix  -if  in  tardy,  jolly  (OF.  tardif, 
jolif),  and  has  been  added  to  contrary  (OF.  contraire). 
The  same  suffix  has  replaced  OE.  -iht  in  thorny Kdorniht. 
In  a  similar  way  the  Old  French  suffix  -age  has  modified 
the  original  ending  of  the  words  sausage,  cabbage  <  OF.  sau- 
cisse,  cabus ;  and  Old  French  -ard,  as  in  mustard,  bastard, 
has  modified  the  suffixes  in  gizzard <  OF.  gezier,  custard 
<  OF.  croustade,  dotard <  OF.  doter.  Similar  modification 
of  a  suffix  is  seen  in  righteous  (OE.  rihtwis)  *  rightwise,'  in 


ANALOGY  IN  ENGLISH  ISV 

which  the  last  part  of  the  word  has  been  influenced  by  the 
common  ending  -ous. 

270.  It  is  clear  from  the  illustrations  so  far  given  that 
the  unaccented  part  of  a  word  is  peculiarly  liable  to  the 
influence  of  analogy.  This  is  shown  also  by  the  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  English  prefixes.  The  English 
prefix  a-  is  original  in  arise,  abide,  affright,  but  has  been 
added  by  analogy  to  many  words,  as  arouse,  accurse.  This 
same  a-  has  also  modified  many  unlike  prefixes.  It  repre- 
sents OE.  of-  in  adown ;  OE.  on-  in  away,  afoot;  OE.  and- 
in  along;  OE.^<f-  in  aware,  afford;  OF.  en-  in  anoint;  and 
the  OE.  preposition  cBt  in  ado,  atone.  The  prefix  ad-  is  a 
modification  of  a-  in  adjudge,  perhaps  also  in  advance, 
adventure  <  OF.  avance,  aventure.  The  extended  use  of 
foreign  prefixes  in  English,  §  205,  is  also  due  to  analogy. 

Folk-Etymology 

271.  One  of  the  most  interesting  cflects  of  the  analogical 
influence  on  individual  words  is  that  which  is  called  folk- 
etymology.  This  name  is  applied  to  the  transformation, 
by  the  common  people,  of  a  word  not  understood,  so  that 
it  seems  to  have  some  relation  to  a  well-known  word  or 
words.  For  example,  wormwood  has  no  connection  with 
either  worm  or  wood,  but  has  been  made  over  from  OE. 
wermod,  that  it  may  conform  to  these  common  words. 
This  form  of  the  analogical  influence  has  produced  no 
inconsiderable  changes  in  the  vocabulary  of  the  language, 
while  it  is  still  continually  affecting  words  among  unedu- 
cated people. 


152  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

272.  A  common  form  of  folk-etymology  is  that  by  which 
a  new  singular  has  been  made  from  a  noun  which,  though 
singular,  was  supposed  to  be  plural  because  of  a  final  -s  that 
was  regarded  as  a  plural  sign.  For  example,  riddle,  burial^ 
are  from  OE.  rcedels,  birgels,  and  originally  retained  final  -s 
in  the  singular.  Later  the  present  forms  came  into  use  in 
speech,  the  earlier  forms  being  retained  only  in  the  plural. 
Similar  are  cherry  (ME.  cheris<OY.  cherise),  pea  beside 
pease  J  sherry  <  the  Elizabethan  form  sherris,  derived  from 
the  name  of  the  Spanish  town  Xeres  {X=  sh).  Besides  we 
have  many  dialect  words  with  analogical  singulars,  some  of 
which  belong  to  dialect  literature,  as  shay  <  chaise ;  Chinee 
<  Chinese  ;  Portugee  <  Portuguese. 

273.  Words  originally  singular  but  ending  in  -s  are 
sometimes  regarded  as  plurals  without,  however,  forming 
new  singulars.  Such  are  alms,  eaves,  which  have  had  a 
final  -s  since  Old  English  times,  and  riches  from  OF. 
richesse.  In  older  English,  as  of  the  Bible,  it  was  possible 
to  speak  of  *  an  alms,''  but  the  syntax  of  such  words  shows 
that  they  are  now  plural.  No  doubt  the  reason  why  singu- 
lars have  not  been  formed  is  that  each  of  these  words  is 
collective  in  sense. 

274.  Part  of  a  word  is  often  transformed  by  folk-etymol- 
ogy. An  example  is  bridegroom,  in  which  OE.  guma  '  man,' 
has  become  groom  by  association  with  groom  'an  attendant.* 
Acorn  has  been  transformed  by  analogy  of  corn,  for  it  should 
be  acern  and  connected  with  acre.  Titmouse,  plural  titmice^ 
has  been  influenced  by  mouse,  mice,  as  the  original  ending 
-mase  '  small  bird  *  had  lost  its  meaning  to  the  folk-mind. 
Other   examples   of  folk-etymology   are  frontispiece    (OF. 


ANALOGY  IN  ENGLISH  153 

fronti-spice) ,  which  once  had  nothing  to  do  with  piece; 
causeway  <  OF.  causie,  Fr.  chaussee  ;  penthouse  <  OF.  apen- 
tis  ;  pickaxe  <  OF.  pickois. 

275.  In  some  cases  both  parts  of  the  word  have  been 
transformed,  although  this  is  not  so  common  as  other  forms 
of  folk-etymology.  A  good  example  occurs  in  the  dialect 
word  sparrow-grass  for  asparagus.  English  sailors  are  said 
to  have  called  the  man-of-war  Bellerophon  the  bully-ruffian. 
Shakespeare  makes  Mistress  Quickly  transform  homicide  into 
honey-seed.  Besides,  many  of  the  witticisms  of  Smollett's 
Winifred  Jenkins,  Sheridan's  Mrs.  Malaprop,  Hook's  Mrs. 
Ramsbotham,  and  Shillaber's  Mrs.  Partington  are  based  on 
this  common  tendency  in  language. 


Inflectional  Levelling  by  Analogy 

276.  In  the  subdivisions  preceding,  analogical  changes 
which  are  due  mainly  to  likeness  of  form  have  been  con- 
sidered. Only  in  the  case  of  the  adverbial  suffix  -ly  can 
there  be  said  to  be  special  likeness  of  function.  The 
changes  that  occur  in  inflection  and  syntax  result  from 
a  new  influence,  the  likeness  of  function  or  use.  Under 
this  factor  words  assume  new  forms,  not  so  much  through 
general  likeness  in  form  to  other  words  of  similar  character, 
as  through  likeness  of  the  function  which  they  perform  in 
the  sentence. 

277.  Analogy  in  noun  inflections  has  reduced  the  number 
of  declensions,  and  the  number  of  case  forms.  In  Old 
English  there  were  five  declensions  of  nouns,  not  to  speak 
of  certain  minor  ones.     But  even  in  the  Old  English  period 


154  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

one  of  these  declensions  was  by  far  the  strongest  and  at' 
tracted  to  itself  words  from  the  others.  The  same  tendency- 
continued  through  the  Middle  English  period,  so  that 
Modern  English  has  in  the  main  but  one  declension  for 
nouns.  To  illustrate  the  change  by  a  specific  example,  CE. 
boc  *  book '  had  a  plural  dec,  which  should  now  be  *l'eek  just 
as  the  plural  oifoot  is  fee f.  But  by  the  influence  of  the  larger 
group  of  words  with  plurals  ending  in  -s,  the  analogical  form 
books  came  into  use  and  the  older  form  has  disappeared. 

278.  In  a  similar  way  analogy  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  diminishing  the  number  of  case  forms  in  English. 
The  Old  English  declension  which  has  become  the  prevail- 
ing one  in  Modern  English  had  three  different  case  forms 
for  both  singular  and  plural.  This  made  six  different  case 
forms  for  each  noun.  By  reason  of  more  frequent  use, 
however,  some  of  these  gained  upon  the  others,  until  the 
six  forms  were  reduced  to  two  in  spoken  English,  as  boy  — 
boys,  although  from  the  last  we  make  two  other  forms  in 
writing  by  the  use  of  the  apostrophe,  as  boy's,  boys'. 

279.  Analogy  has  also  affected  the  original  inflection  of 
adjectives,  as  well  as  comparison,  which  may  be  considered 
a  sort  of  inflectional  form.  The  twofold  declension  of 
adjectives,  already  mentioned  as  a  characteristic  of  Teutonic 
in  §  35,  has  been  gradually  broken  down,  so  that  now  the 
adjective  has  but  one  form  for  all  genders,  cases,  and 
numbers.  To  a  lesser  extent  analogy  has  influenced  the 
comparison  of  adjectives.  The  adjective  strong,  for  ex- 
ample, had  in  Old  and  early  Modem  English  the  compara- 
tive and  superlative  strenger,  strengest,  by  mutation  of  the 
positive.     But  mutation  in  forms  of  comparison  was  not 


ANALOGY  IN  ENGLISH  155 

common  even  in  Old  English,  and  the  few  examples  of  it 
have  been  brought  into  harmony  with  the  common  form 
without  mutation.  An  exception  might  seem  to  occur  in 
dder,  eldest  beside  older,  oldest,  but  in  reality  the  former  are 
simple  adjectives,  and  do  not  express  comparison. 

280.  The  effect  of  analogy  on  pronouns  has  been  no  less 
considerable,  though  the  results  are  somewhat  more  com- 
plicated. In  usage  pronouns  are  commonly  of  two  classes, 
substantives,  as  the  personal  and  relative  pronouns,  and 
adjectives,  as  the  possessives,  demonstratives,  and  indefi- 
nites. It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  substantive  pronouns 
should  have  followed  the  analogy  of  nouns,  and  adjective 
pronouns  that  of  adjectives.  However,  as  the  accusative  ^  of 
substantive  pronouns  usually  differed  from  the  nominative, 
a  separate  accusative  is  still  retained,  as  in  he  —  him,  she  — 
her,  who  —  whom.  This  accusative,  too,  is  usually  an  older 
dative,  since  in  Old  English  the  dative  of  pronouns  was 
more  commonly  used  than  the  accusative. 

281.  Adjective  pronouns,  that  is,  possessives,  demonstra- 
tives, and  indefinites,  are  unchangeable  in  form  by  analogy 
of  adjectives.  Examples  are  his,  some,  any,  few.  Most 
possessives,  however,  have  a  different  form  when  used  sub- 
stantively, as  mine,  hers,  yours.  By  analogy  of  nouns  also, 
the  demonstratives  that  and  this  have  different  plurals,  as 
those  and  these.  Some  indefinites  which  are  frequently  used 
as  substantives  have  assumed  the  noun  inflection.  Ex- 
amples are  one  and  other.    The  indefinites  any  one,  and 

1  The  names  genitive,  dative,  accusative,  are  used  in  this  book  for  the 
modem  speech  mainly  because  they  are  necessary  in  referring  to  the  older 
language. 


156  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

compounds  of  body^  as  somebody ^  also  have  inflected  genitive 
forms,  though  no  plurals. 

282.  The  changes  in  verbs  that  have  been  produced  by 
analogy,  are  even  more  numerous  than  those  in  nouns  and 
adjectives,  no  doubt  because  of  the  larger  number  of  forms 
upon  which  the  analogical  influence  could  exert  itself.  Even 
in  Old  English,  the  weak  verbs  were  far  more  numerous  than 
the  strong  verbs.  As  a  natural  result  there  was  a  constant 
tendency  to  make  the  strong  verbs  correspond  to  the  w«ak, 
and  many  have  assumed  weak  forms.  Verbs  entering  the 
language  from  foreign  sources  have  also  been  attracted  to 
this  larger  class,  and  have  almost  invariably  become  weak. 

283.  Moreover  the  inflectional  forms  have  been  greatly 
reduced  in  number  since  Old  English  times,  so  that  the 
weak  verb  now  has  but  four  forms,  love  —  loves  —  loved — 
loving^  such  forms  as  lovest — lovedst  being  obsolete  in 
speech  and  prose.  The  strong  verb  has  suffered  in  another 
way.  Originally  it  had,  in  its  preterit  tense,  two  forms  with 
different  root  vowels.  These  have  been  reduced  to  one 
form  in  Modern  English,  so  that  the  four  principal  parts 
of  the  Old  English  strong  verb  have  become  three.  This 
simplification  was  no  doubt  aided  by  the  fact  that  the  weak 
verb  had  but  three  forms.  Other  examples  of  analogy  in 
verbal  inflections  belong  to  the  special  discussion  of  the 
verb,  which  is  reserved  for  a  later  chapter. 

Syntactical  Analogy 

284.  Analogy  may  also  affect  the  syntax  of  a  language. 
Established  usage  in  speech  shows  certain  combinations  of 
words,  as   subject  +  predicate,  singular   subject  +  singular 


ANALOGY  IN  ENGLISH  157 

verb,  transitive  verb  +  object,  which  form  prevailing  types 
in  syntax.  By  analogy  of  these,  combinations  which  did 
not  originally  conform  to  them  have  been  variously  modified. 
Thus  in  English,  the  prepositional  phrase  ^+ accusative 
has  displaced  the  genitive  in  many  cases.  In  a  similar  way 
the  phrase  to  +  accusative  has  replaced  the  older  indirect 
object,  the  dative  without  a  preposition.  The  Shakespearean 
"I'll  hQ  friends  with  thee"  {2  Hen.  IV,  II,  4,  71)  seems 
to  have  been  influenced  by  such  expressions  as  we'll  be 
friends.  So  also  ^^These  kind  of  knaves"  {Lear,  II,  2, 
107)  has  been  modified  by  the  expression  these  knaves, 
and  similar  uses  of  these.  A  syntactical  combination  which 
seems  even  now  to  be  estabhshing  itself  is  that  of  the 
adverb  between  to  and  the  infinitive,  as  to  rightly  judge. 
Historically  this  is  inaccurate,  but  under  the  influence  oi 
the  emphatic  type  adverb  -f  verb,  the  adverb  is  frequently 
placed  after  the  sign  of  the  infinitive,  sometimes  even  by 
good  writers. 

285.  How  powerful  a  factor  analogy  has  been  in  the 
history  of  English  may  be  best  appreciated  from  the  chap- 
ters on  inflections  which  follow.  A  sufficient  number  of 
examples  has  been  given  to  show  that  analogy  may  be  said 
to  be  an  influence  which  tends  toward  making  less  common 
forms  and  expressions  conform  to  the  more  common  usage. 
Naturally,  analogy  has  been  most  active  in  periods  when 
standards  of  usage  were  less  thoroughly  established,  as  in 
Middle  English  before  the  establishment  of  the  standard 
language,  and  in  early  Modern  English,  when  usage  was 
more  various  than  at  present.     In  later  periods,  when  the 


158  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS  OF  WORDS 

schools  and  good  usage,  or  correct  speech,  have  become 
influential,  the  analogical  tendency  has  been  largely  kept  in 
check.  However,  some  changes  in  standard  usage  are 
constantly  going  on  under  its  influence,  while  it  is  ever 
active  in  dialectal  speech. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  ENGLISH  ACCENT 

286.  As  already  noted,  §  219,  accent  is  an  important 
condition  of  the  forms  of  words,  and  of  the  changes  which 
they  undergo.  Both  phonetic  change  and  analogy  may 
affect  stressed  elements,  yet  both  are  far  more  powerful 
in  altering  the  unstressed  parts  of  words  and  sentences. 
Besides,  accent  has  already  been  referred  to  as  a  charac- 
teristic in  which  Teutonic  differs  from  most  other  Indo- 
European  languages.  On  both  of  these  accounts,  therefore, 
some  discussion  of  accent  in  English  is  necessary. 

287.  The  term  accent  is  usually  confined  to  stress  upon 
a  particular  word  or  syllable.  In  the  larger  sense,  however, 
stress  is  of  two  varieties,  word-stress  and  sentence-stress, 
each  of  which  has  important  relations  in  the  history  of 
language.  Word-stress,  or  accent  in  its  usual  sense,  needs 
no  further  definition.  By  sentence-stress  is  meant  that 
more  prominent  accent  which  rests  on  one  or  more  words 
of  a  spoken  sentence.  The  importance  of  recognizing 
sentence-stress,  as  well  as  word-stress,  depends  upon  the  fact 
that  the  unstressed  words  of  a  sentence,  like  the  unstressed 
syllables  of  a  word,  may  undergo  special  changes. 

288.  Accent  may  be  of  different  kinds  in  respect  to 
quality,  as  pitch  or  musical  accent,  and  force  or  expiratory 


160  CHANGES  IN   THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

accent.  Both  of  these  may,  and  usually  do,  unite  to  some 
extent  in  each  particular  language,  but  one  is  always  more 
prominent  and  characteristic.  Musical  accent  belonged, 
for  example,  to  classical  Greek ;  expiratory  accent  is  exem- 
plified by  classical  Latin  and  Teutonic.  Musical  accent 
has  various  grades,  represented  by  the  acute,  the  grave, 
and  the  circumflex.  Expiratory  accent  is  also  of  two  vari- 
eties, called  primary  and  secondary  according  to  the  degree 
of  force  employed. 

289.  As  to  position,  accent  is  free  when  it  rests  on  any 
syllable  and  moves  from  one  syllable  to  another  in  the 
inflectional  forms  of  the  same  word ;  or  fixed,  when  it 
rests  always  on  the  same  syllable  of  the  word.  Free  accent 
belonged  to  Indo-European,  and  was  retained  in  Greek 
and  the  earHest  Teutonic.  On  the  other  hand,  the  accent 
of  Teutonic  words  after  the  earliest  period  was  a  fixed,  ex- 
piratory stress.  Between  the  two  stands  the  Latin  accent, 
which  must  rest  on  one  of  two  syllables  in  polysyllabic 
words,  but  may  change  from  one  to  the  other  in  inflection, 
as  in  leo  —  leoniSy  feci — fecisti.  English  sentence-stress  is 
also  an  expiratory,  or  force  accent,  but,  instead  of  being 
fixed  and  conventional  like  English  word-stress,  is  free  and 
logical.  That  is,  it  rests  on  the  word  or  words  especially 
prominent  in  the  thought. 

290.  In  Old  English,  accent  of  words  followed  the  law 
of  the  Teutonic  accent.  This  law  may  be  stated  as  follows. 
Uncompounded  words  were  always  accented  on  the  first, 
or  root,  syllable.  Compounds  varied  in  accent,  according 
as  they  were  nouns  and  adjectives  on  the  one  side,  or  verbs 
on  the  other.     Nouns  and  adjectives  were  accented  on  the 


THE  ENGLISH  ACCENT  161 

first  syllable  of  a  compound,  as  of  a  simple  word.  Verbs 
were  regularly  accented  on  the  first  syllable  of  the  root  and 
never  on  the  prefix,  unless  they  were  derived  from  nouns 
and  adjectives,  when  they  retained  the  accent  of  the  latter. 
Thus  answer,  the  verb,  retains  the  accent  of  answer,  the 
noun,  which  is  itself  compounded  of  and  -f-  swaru  and 
means  *a  speaking  in  return.' 

291.  The  accent  of  native  English  words  has  remained 
much  the  same  in  all  periods.  Examples  of  nouns  or  ad- 
jectives with  accent  on  the  prefix  are  compounds  of  after, 
and,  fore,  fro,  in,  mid,  off,  on,  out,  over,  under,  up,  as  in 
aftermath,  answer,  forepart,  froward,  inland,  midway,  off- 
spring, onslaught,  outlay,  overthrow,  underling,  upward. 
Verbs,  with  accent  on  the  root,  are  forego,  ingather,  offset, 
overthrow.  On  the  other  hand,  most  nouns  and  adjectives 
formed  with  the  prefixes  al-,  mis-,  and  un-  have  changed  the 
accent  from  the  prefix  to  the  root.  Examples  are  almighty, 
misdeed,  mistake,  unkind,  unwell.  These  have  probably  been 
influenced  by  the  accent  of  verbs. 

292.  Borrowed  words  in  English  have  sometimes  assumed 
the  English  accent,  sometimes  not.  In  general,  words  of 
common  usage  entering  before  Modern  English  times  have 
the  accent  of  native  words ;  many  entering  later,  as  well  as 
words  of  learned  origin,  retain  the  accent  of  the  original 
language.  To  the  first  class  belong  early  classical  words, 
and  those  from  Old  French.  Norse  words  already  had 
Teutonic  accent,  and  so  easily  associated  themselves  with 
native  words.  To  the  second  belong  words  of  late  Latin 
and  French  origin,  besides  those  from  less  important 
sources.     Borrowed  words  which  differed  from  English  only 


162  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

gradually  acquired  the  native  accent.  They  are  therefore 
differently  stressed  in  different  periods,  and  sometimes  even 
in  the  same  author.  Thus  reason  is  differently  accented  in 
the  following  lines  of  Chaucer :  — 

**Til  that  he  knew,  by  grace  and  by  resound 

{Monk's  Tate,  aaS.) 

**As  fer  as  r^son  axeth,  hardily." 

iCUrk's  Proieguetts) 

293,  In  assuming  English  accent,  borrowed  words  have 
generally  ranged  themselves  in  the  two  characteristic  classes 
of  native  words.  Nouns  and  adjectives  have  usually  assumed 
accent  on  the  prefix,  while  verbs  have  more  commonly  re- 
tained the  original  accent  on  the  root  syllable,  or  on  what 
was  regarded  as  the  root  syllable.  Examples  of  words  show- 
ing different  stress  as  nouns  and  verbs  are  augment —  aug- 
ment; collect — collect;  compound — compound;  cdncert — 
concert;  cdnduct — conduct;  export — expdrt;  impress  — 
impress;  insult — insult;  permit — permit.  Adjectives  and 
verbs  differently  accented  are  absent — absent;  frequent 
— frequent.  On  the  other  hand,  adjectives  sometimes  agree 
in  accent  with  verbs  rather  than  with  substantives,  as  Au- 
gust—  august;  minute  —  minute;  supine  —  supine;  invalid 

(English  invalid)  —  invalid.  Borrowed  words  which  are 
not  compounded  of  prefix  and  root  often  follow  the  anal- 
ogy  of  true  compounds,  as  ferment — ferment;  torment — 
torment. 

294.  Words  which  do  not  conform  to  these  general  rules 
are  usually  late  borrowings.  For  instance,  many  French 
words  that  appeared  first  in  the  seventeenth  century,  §  181, 


THE  ENGLISH  ACCENT  163 

have  retained  the  foreign  accent.  Examples  are,  bagatelle^ 
brunette,  burlesque,  cadet,  cajole,  campaign,  caprice.  As 
most  of  these  are  nouns  or  adjectives,  they  should  have 
assumed  initial  stress  by  analogy  of  native  words.  Ex- 
amples of  Latin  words  which  retain  Latin  accentuation  are 
aurora,  ccesura,  colossus,  corona,  decorum,  factotum,  farina, 
legumen.  Such  words  are  mainly  of  learned  origin  and 
usage. 

295.  Thus  far  the  accent  of  compounds  which  may  be 
separated  into  prefix  and  root  has  been  considered.  True 
compounds,  made  up  of  independent  words,  usually  follow 
the  same  laws.  Examples  of  nouns  are  daylight,  draw- 
bridge, grandfather,  redbreast;  of  adjectives,  godlike,  head- 
strong, lovesick.  Verbs  compounded  of  independent  words 
are  few,  except  those  mentioned  in  §  291,  or  those  formed 
from  nouns  and  adjectives,  which  have  initial  stress  as  in 
former  times.  Examples  are  blindfold,  shipwreck,  white- 
wash. 

296.  Apart  from  this  general  agreement  in  accent  be- 
tween Modern  English  and  the  language  of  the  older 
periods,  one  important  tendency  is  to  be  noted.  Modern 
Enghsh  compounds  tend  to  have  equal,  or  level,  stress  on' 
both  parts  of  the  compound.  This  is  especially  true  of 
compounds  with  no  mark  of  union  in  the  written  form, 
§  145,  as  the  noun  compounds  good  man,  wild  rose;  the 
adjectives  half  mad,  dead  ripe,  red  lead;  and  the  verbs 
draw  back,  pour  through,  run  away.  These  do  not  con- 
form to  the  general  rule  because  not  usually  regarded  as 
true  compounds.  Each  part  of  the  compound  is  thought 
of  as  significant.     Thus  wild  rose  is  contrasted,  not  only 


i64  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS   OF  WORDS 

with  tame  rose,  but  with  other  wild  flowers.     Otherwise  the 
stress  of  such  compounds  follows  the  rule. 

297.  Some  words  differ  in  accent  according  to  position 
in  the  sentence.  Such  are  adjectives  compounded  of  ad- 
verbs and  adjectives,  as  illbred,  hardhearted^  shortsighted. 
If  used  attributively,  such  words  take  initial  stress ;  if  used 
as  predicate  adjectives,  they  take  the  stress  on  the  second 
element.  So  such  words  as  afternoon,  forenoon,  are  stressed 
on  the  first  syllable  when  used  as  adjectives  or  as  nouns  in 
the  position  of  subject.  If  used  in  the  predicate,  they  take 
stress  on  the  second  element,  unless  a  contrast  is  implied. 
In  most  such  cases,  the  accent  can  be  easily  explained  as 
due  to  the  original  sentence  stress. 

298.  Secondary  stress  in  English  words  usually  rests  on 
the  second  syllable  from  the  principal  accent,  as  in  mani- 
fold, 'instrumental.  In  compounds  of  two  independent 
words  the  secondary  accent  falls  on  the  second  part,  whether 
it  stands  next  the  primary  accent  or  not,  as  in  daylight, 
lovesick,  handiwork.  In  dissyllabic  compounds,  however, 
the  secondary  stress  is  lost  whenever  the  word  is  no  longer 
regarded  as  a  compound.  As  examples  of  this  see  the 
obscure  compounds  in  §  148. 

299.  As  already  mentioned  in  §  289,  sentence  stress  in 
English  is  free  and  logical.  By  this  is  meant  that  it  is  so 
placed  as  to  emphasize  the  word,  or  words,  especially  promi- 
nent in  sense.  For  example,  the  sentence  Tom  stole  the 
knife  conveys  slightly  different  ideas,  as  the  stress  is  placed 
on  one  word  or  another.  If  Tom  is  stressed,  the  person 
who  committed  the  act  is  contrasted  with  others  who  might 
have  been  guilty.     On  the  other  hand,  if  stole  is  stressed, 


THE  ENGLISH  ACCENT  165 

the  method  of  obtaining  the  knife  is  emphasized,  but  not 
the  person  who  gained  possession.  Still  another  idea  is 
made  prominent  if  the  stress  is  placed  on  knife. 

300.  In  general,  sentence  stress  is  used  to  emphasize  new 
ideas,  while  ideas  already  in  the  mind  of  speaker  and 
hearer,  or  those  easily  taken  for  granted,  are  left  unstressed. 
Thus  if  Tom  were  strongly  stressed  in  the  sentence  above, 
it  would  imply  that  the  fact  of  stealing  and  the  object  stolen 
were  already  known  to  speaker  and  hearer.  The  verb  to  be 
is  usually  unstressed,  because  it  is  simply  a  connective  be- 
tween subject  and  what  is  asserted  of  the  subject.  Only 
when  used  to  convey  the  less  common  idea  of  '  existence ' 
is  it  strongly  stressed.  Examples  of  both  of  these  latter 
uses  occur  in  the  famous  quotation  from  Pope,  "  Whatever 
is,  is  righty 

301.  Certain  parts  of  speech  usually  receive  more  sen- 
tence stress  than  others.  For  example,  many  pronominal 
words,  the  articles,  particles,  and  auxiliary  verbs,  are 
generally  without  stress  in  the  sentence.  But  certain  pro- 
nouns are  always  stressed,  as  the  interrogative  compared 
with  the  indefinite  or  relative,  and  the  possessive  compared 
with  the  personal  pronouns.  Besides,  the  adjective  and 
adverb  receive  more  stress  than  the  noun  and  verb  modi- 
fied. Yet  the  adjective  and  adverb  may  lose  this  prominent 
stress  when  they  are  mere  stock  terms,  adding  little  mean- 
ing to  the  expression.  In  all  these,  as  in  other  cases,  sen- 
tence stress  is  logical,  that  is,  it  depends  upon  the  meaning 
intended  by  the  speaker. 

302.  The  importance  of  stress  as  a  condition  of  changes 
in  the  forms  of  words  has  been  previously  illustrated  by 


166  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORMS  OF  WORDS 

such  examples  as  those  in  §  146.  As  already  noted  also, 
§  219,  phonetic  changes  are  far  more  numerous  in  un- 
stressed than  in  stressed  syllables,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
changes  due  to  analogy.  Besides,  the  fact  of  stress  enters 
into  all  the  inflectional  changes  which  will  be  considered  in 
the  following  chapters. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    ENGLISH 
INFLECTIONS 


CHAPTER   XIII 

INFLECTIONAL  LEVELLING  IN  ENGLISH 

303.  It  has  been  mentioned  in  §  8  that  the  Indo- 
European  family  is  characterized  by  languages  of  the 
inflectional  type.  Yet  English  is  also  called  an  analytic, 
or  uninflected  language.  That  is,  Modern  English  does 
not  rely  on  inflectional'  forms  for  expressing  the  various 
relations  of  nouns,  adjectives,  pronouns,  and  verbs.  On 
the  contrary,  English  indicates  these  relations  by  position 
in  the  sentence,  or  by  certain  connective  words,  as  preposi- 
tions and  auxiliary  verbs.  The  apparent  inconsistency  is 
not  a  real  one.  In  the  past  every  language  of  the  Indo- 
European  family  has  been  inflected.  Later  the  inflectional 
character  has  been  more  or  less  completely  lost  in  some 
members  of  the  group,  as  English,  Dutch,  French,  and 
others.  Besides,  when  it  is  said  that  English  is  an  unin- 
flected language,  the  statement  is  not  entirely  true.  The 
losses  of  inflectional  forms  have  been  more  considerable 
in  English  than  in  some  other  members  of  the  Teutonic 

167 


168       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

group,  as  German.  But  English  still  retains  case  forms 
in  the  pronoun,  one  oblique  case  in  nouns,  and  some 
inflectional  forms  in  verbs. 

304.  The  extent  to  which  this  inflectional  levelling  has 
affected  English  may  be  seen  by  comparison  with  the 
parent  speech.  The  latter  had  eight  cases,  distinguished 
in  nouns,  pronouns,  and  adjectives  by  special  endings. 
There  were  three  numbers,  singular,  dual,  and  plural,  with 
forms  in  nouns,  pronouns,  adjectives,  and  verbs.  The  de- 
clensions of  the  primitive  speech  were  numerous,  and  there 
was  also  a  complicated  and  multiform  verbal  system. 
Almost  the  whole  of  this  elaborate  inflectional  system 
has  been  gradually  lost  during  the  ages  since  the  ancestors 
of  the  English  and  other  Indo-European  peoples  lived 
together  in  a  common  home. 

305.  Even  Gothic,  the  oldest  extant  form  of  Teutonic, 
shows  great  modifications  of  the  Indo-European  inflectional 
system.  In  the  West  Teutonic  tongues  the  simplification 
was  carried  still  further.  The  same  tendency  continued 
to  affect  in  a  marked  degree  the  Low  German  languages. 
Finally,  in  the  history  of  English  itself,  the  process  which 
has  influenced  all  Teutonic  languages  has  brought  about 
the  gradual  loss  of  most  of  the  original  inflectional  forms. 

306.  In  the  earliest  period  of  English  most  nouns  had 
but  three  case  forms  in  singular  and  plural,  although  a  {tvf 
had  four,  and  adjectives  together  with  a  few  pronouns  had 
five.  Old  English  had  also  lost  the  dual  number  except  in 
the  first  and  second  personal  pronouns,  and  the  latter  forms 
were  not  in  common  use.  Moreover,  while  the  number 
of  declensions  was  nominally  more  numerous,  most  nouns 


INFLECTIONAL  LEVELLING  IN  ENGLISH       169 

were  declined  in  one  of  two  ways.  One  of  these  included 
masculine  and  neuter  nouns,  and  the  other,  feminines. 
Adjectives  agreed  in  their  inflection  with  the  majority  of 
nouns,  except  for  the  weak  declension,  which  was  peculiar 
to  the  Teutonic  languages. 

307.  Since  Old  English  times,  the  levelling  tendency  has 
removed  most  of  these  older  inflectional  forms.  With  few 
exceptions  nouns  are  now  declined  alike.  They  have,  more- 
over, one  common  form  for  the  older  nominative,  vocative, 
dative,  and  accusative  cases,  and  one  for  the  genitive  singu- 
lar. In  most  nouns  the  genitive  plural  is  the  same  as  the 
nominative,  except  for  the  apostrophe  used  in  the  written 
form.  Adjectives  have  lost  all  traces  of  inflection.  The 
personal  pronoun  alone  preserves  distinctive  case  forms. 
In  verbs,  the  stems,  as  well  as  the  inflectional  forms,  have 
been  considerably  reduced  in  number. 

308.  The  influences  which  have  brought  about  these  in- 
flectional changes  in  English  are  the  two  already  mentioned 
as  affecting  the  forms  of  words,  —  phonetic  change  and 
analogy.  The  first  of  these  has  been  particularly  influential 
in  English  because  of  the  position  of  the  Teutonic  accent, 
which  never  rests  on  the  inflectional  ending.  On  this 
account,  the  inflectional  and  unstressed  syllables  have  been 
gradually  obscured  in  pronunciation.  The  second  influence 
has  tended  to  reduce  the  dissimilar  inflectional  forms  to  a 
common  type,  thus  bringing  regularity  out  of  irregularity. 
Naturally  the  latter  influence  has  been  much  aided  by  the 
former. 

309.  It  is  therefore  misleading  to  suppose  that  the  break- 
ing down  of  inflectional  forms  has  been  directly  due  to  the 


170       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

influence  of  foreign  languages  with  which  English  has  come 
in  contact.  This  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  inflectional 
levelling  had  begun  in  Old  EngHsh  times.  In  late  Old 
English  it  proceeded  rapidly.  In  Middle  English  the  lan- 
guage was  assuming  its  modern  form,  even  in  those  localities 
least  affected  by  foreign  influences.  Besides,  a  similar  in- 
flectional levelling  has  taken  place  in  other  members  of 
the  Teutonic  branch  on  which  there  has  been  slight  in- 
fluence from  without,  as  in  Danish  and  Dutch. 

310.  The  real  effect  of  such  foreign  influences  as  that  of 
Danish  and  Norman  French,  was  in  breaking  down  the 
standard  speech,  and  in  preventing  the  estabhshment  of  a 
new  standard.  The  absence  of  a  standard  language  re- 
moved the  check  upon  almost  indiscriminate  levelling. 
Each  writer  tended  to  use  the  dialect  of  his  restricted 
district.  By  reason  of  this,  some  inflectional  forms  tended 
to  become  obscured  in  one,  some  in  another  district.  The 
confusion  arising  in  the  borderland  of  two  such  districts 
tended  to  destroy  the  forms  peculiar  to  each  and  thus 
hasten  inflectional  change. 

311.  If  foreign  influences  have  not  directly  affected  in- 
flectional levelling,  much  less  likely  is  it  that  there  has  been 
any  borrowing  of  inflectional  forms  from  foreign  sources. 
Although  borrowing  of  inflectional  forms  has  sometimes 
been  asserted,  the  assertion  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
supported.  Besides,  the  principle  may  be  strongly  em- 
phasized that  foreign  influence  should  be  assumed  only  when 
no  influence  within  a  language  will  satisfactorily  account 
for  the  fact  in  question.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
chapters,  there  is  no  inflectional  form   in   English  which 


INFLECTIONAL  LEVELLING  IN  ENGLISH        171 

cannot  be  easily  accounted  for  from  older  forms  in  one 
or  another  of  its  dialects.  For  the  apparent  exception  in 
the  case  of  the  pronouns  they,  them,  compare  §  373. 

312.  In  considering  the  changes  taking  place  in  English 
inflections,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  were  brought 
about  in  the  most  gradual  manner.  As  said  before,  there  is 
no  sharp  dividing  line  between  the  language  forms  of  differ- 
ent periods.  Nevertheless  it  will  be  convenient  to  consider 
inflections  in  relation  to  the  three  divisions  of  our  language 
history.  Old  English  may  thus  be  regarded  as  the  period 
of  full  inflections.  Middle  English  as  the  period  of  levelled 
inflections,  and  Modern  English  as  the  period  of  lost  in- 
flections. Yet  the  last  of  these  terms  must  not  be  taken 
too  literally,  since  Modem  English  still  retains  a  number  ot 
inflectional  forms. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  NOUN 

313.  The  Old  English  noun  inflections  have  been  briefly 
characterized  in  §  306.  More  exactly,  all  nouns  belonged 
to  one  of  two  principal  varieties  of  declension,  called  strong 
and  weak,^  although  such  names  are  more  convenient  than 
descriptive  of  essential  peculiarities.  In  each  of  these 
declensions  there  were  variations  for  the  three  genders, 
but  masculine  and  neuter  nouns  had  much  in  common,  and 
the  forms  of  all  genders  in  the  weak  declension  were  much 
alike.  Old  English  gender  was  purely  grammatical,  as  in 
German  or  Latin ;  that  is,  gender  in  nouns  had  no  relation 
to  sex  as  at  present.  Besides  the  declensions  mentioned 
above,  there  were  certain  anomalous  nouns  in  Old  English 
which  will  be  considered  by  themselves. 

314.  The  principal  noun  inflections  of  Old  English^  may 
be  represented  by  the  following  examples.  Such  words 
have  been  chosen  for  illustration  as  have  been  preserved  in 
Modern  English  without  great  change  in  general  form. 
Thus  dom  is  '  doom,'  word  *  word,'  clif  *  cliff",'  g/o/  *  glove,' 
/u/u  '  love,'  oxa  '  ox,'  eare  *  ear,'  keorfe  '  heart.' 

1  The  terms  '  strong'  and  '  weak '  were  given  by  Jacob  Grimm  to  differ- 
ent varieties  of  inflection  in  nouns,  adjectives,  and  verbs.  For  convenience, 
they  are  often  retained  at  the  present  time,  as  in  this  book. 

2  For  the  simplest  description  of  the  inflections  of  OE.  nouns,  as  of 
Other  inflected  forms,  see  Cook's  First  Book  in  Old  English^  pp.  26-80. 

172 


THE  NOUN 


173 


I.  The  Strong  Declension. 


MASCULINE. 

NEUTER. 

FEMININE. 

Singular. 

N.V.I 

dom 

word 

clif 

gl5f 

lufu 

G. 

domes 

wordes 

clifes 

glofe 

lufe 

D.I. 

dome 

worde 

clife 

glofe 

lufe 

A. 

d5m 

word 

clif 

glofe 

lufe 

Plural. 

N.V.A. 

domas 

word 

clifu 

gl5fa  (e) 

lufa  (e) 

G. 

doma 

worda 

clifa 

glofa  (ena) 

lufa  (ena) 

D.I. 

domum 

wordum 

clifum 

glofum 

lufum 

II.  The  Weak  Declension. 

MASCULINE.  NEUTER. 

Singular. 


N.V. 
G. 
D.I. 
A. 


N.V.A. 

G. 

D.I. 


oxa 

oxan 
oxan 
oxan 


eare 
earan 
earan 
eare 

Plural 


oxan 

earan 

heortan 

oxena 

earena 

heortena 

oxum 

earum 

heortum 

FEMININE. 

heorte 
heortan 
heortan 
heortan 


315.  The  differences  between  these  forms  are  not  really 
so  great  as  they  may  seem.  For  instance,  strong  masculines 
and  neuters  have  only  three  case  forms  in  the  singular, 

1  N.  means  nominative ;  V.,  vocative,  which  is  always  the  same  as  the 
nominative;  G.,  genitive;  D.,  dative;  I.,  instrumental  (Latin  ablative), 
and  always  the  same  as  the  dative  in  nouns  ;  A.,  accusative,  always  like  the 
nominative  in  masculines  and  neuters.  For  convenience  the  same  case 
names  are  retained  for  all  periods  of  English. 


174       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

although  in  the  table,  on  account  of  feminine  nouns,  the 
accusative  of  masculines  and  neuters  is  separated  from  the 
nominative  and  vocative.  In  the  singular,  weak  neuters  also 
have  but  three  forms.  The  neuters  word  and  clif  and  the 
feminines  g/o/B.nd  lufu  differ  from  each  other  in  but  a  single 
case  for  each  pair.  The  plurals  of  all  strong  nouns  are 
much  alike,  while  the  plurals  of  all  weak  nouns  are  exactly 
the  same.  Feminines  of  weak  nouns  are  like  masculines 
except  in  the  nominative,  and  like  neuters  except  in  the 
accusative.  These  points  of  resemblance  may  be  em- 
phasized by  a  table  of  inflectional  endings  as  follows : 

Singular, 


Strong. 

Weak. 

MASC. 

NEUT. 

FEM. 

MASC. 

NEUT. 

FEM. 

N.V. 

— 

— -,  u 

a 

e 

e 

G. 

es 

e 

an 

D.L 

e 

e 

an 

A. 

" 

e 
Plural 

an 

e 

an 

N.V.A. 

as 

— ,tt 

a(e) 

an 

G. 

a 

ena 

D.I. 

tun 

um 

In  the  above  table  a  dash  means  that  there  is  no  in- 
flectional ending ;  similar  endings  for  two  or  three  genders 
are  given  but  once. 

316.  The  changes  affecting  inflections  from  Old  to 
Middle  English  reduced  the  noun  forms  to  much  more 
of  regularity.  First,  by  phonetic  changes,  every  unstressed 
<z,  o^  u,  became  <?,  and  final  m  of  the  -um  ending  became 
n.    The  second  influence  was  analogy.     By  reason  of  the 


THE  NOUN  m 

latter,  the  masculine- neuter  genitive  in  -^was  extended  to 
original  feminines  and  to  most  weak  nouns,  while  the  dative 
usually  took  the  form  of  the  nominative  and  accusative. 
At  the  same  time  the  plural  mascuHne  N.V.A.  in  -es  (OE. 
as)  became  the  plural  ending  of  all  but  a  few  exceptional 
nouns.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  the  plural 
ending  of  the  largest  class  of  strong  nouns  in  Old  English, 
and  it  was  also  more  distinctive  than  the  -en  plural  of  weak 
nouns.  Besides,  the  ending  -es  became  common  to  all 
plural  cases,  displacing  the  dative  as  usually  in  the  singular, 
and  the  genitive  both  because  the  latter  was  seldom  used 
and  because  of  the  similar  form  of  the  genitive  singular. 
Finally,  the  grammatical  gender  of  Old  English  was  gradu- 
ally lost,  owing  to  the  loss  of  distinctive  endings  for  gender 
in  nouns,  adjectives,  and  demonstrative  pronouns. 

317,  As  a  result  of  these  changes  the  noun  inflection  in 
the  Midland  dialect,  even  at  the  beginning  of  Middle 
English  times,  was  exceedingly  simple.  Soon  after  iioo, 
as  shown  by  the  language  of  the  Peterborough  Chronicle^ 
§  82,  and  certainly  by  1200,  as  shown  by  the  language  of 
Orm,  most  nouns  were  declined  in  one  of  two  ways,  as 
follows : 

t  II. 

Singular  N.V.A.  dom  lufe 

G.  domes  lufes  (lufe) 

D.  (I.)  dom  (dome)  lufe 

Plural  (all  cases)  domes  lufes 

318.  The  main  difference  between  these  two  classes  is 
in  the  N.V.A.  singular,  which  is  without  special  ending  in 
nouns  of  class  I.,  but  always  ends  in  ^  in  nouns  of  class  IL 


176       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

The  form  with  e  in  the  dative  singular  of  the  first  and  the 
genitive  singular  of  the  second  class  is  seldom  found.  In 
the  latter  case  it  usually  occurs  in  combinations  which  are 
probably  compounds  rather  than  genitives  with  following 
nouns.  Examples  are  herte  blod  *  heart  blood,'  chirche  door 
*  church  door,'  ladye  day  *  Lady  day.'  Besides  nouns  belong- 
ing to  these  two  classes,  there  were  certain  irregular  plurals 
which  will  be  described  in  a  following  section. 

319.  The  noun  inflections  in  Chaucer,  representing 
Middle  English  of  the  fourteenth  century,  agree  in  general, 
with  those  of  the  earlier  period.  The  main  difference  is 
that  e  of  the  es  endings  is  sometimes  lost,  so  that  the  forms 
in  Chaucer  approach  somewhat  nearer  to  those  of  Modern 
English.  In  the  fifteenth  century  these  two  declensions  be- 
came one  by  loss  of  final  e,  as  in  many  other  classes  of 
words.  About  the  same  time,  <f  of  the  -es  endings  was 
regularly  syncopated,  except  after  words  ending  in  certain 
consonants.  Thus  most  nouns  of  Modern  English,  includ- 
ing most  of  those  borrowed  from  other  languages,  are  de- 
clined according  to  one  general  type. 

320.  When  it  is  said  that  most  Modern  English  nouns 
are  declined  alike,  reference  is  made  especially  to  the 
written  form.  If  the  spoken  form  be  regarded.  Modern 
English  nouns  are  of  three  types  according  as  they  add,  in 
the  genitive  singular  and  the  plural,  -z^  -s,  -iz(ez).  In 
speech,  nouns  ending  in  a  vowel  or  voice  consonant  add  -z ; 
those  ending  in  a  voiceless  consonant  add  -s;  and  those 
ending  in  s,  z,  sh,  ch,  or  j  sounds  add  the  syllable  -iz{ez), 
written  es{s).  More  exactly,  nouns  of  the  latter  class  retain 
the  Middle  English  -es  ending  without  syncopation  of  e. 


THE  NOUN  177 

The  written  forms  of  the  three  types  may  be  illustrated  as 
follows : 

I.  IL                    III. 

Singular  N.V.A.D.        boy  hat  horse 

G.                     boy's  hat's  horse's 

Plural  N.V.A.D.            boys  hats  horses 

G.                        boys*  hats*  horses* 

321.  From  this  scheme  there  are  few  divergences  in 
Modem  English  except  in  the  case  of  irregular  plurals. 
In  forming  the  genitive  singular,  nouns  ending  in  s  some- 
times add  the  apostrophe  only.  The  reason  for  this  irregu- 
larity is  very  old.  In  Middle  English,  foreign  words  ending 
in  s  did  not  always  assume  inflectional  -es  in  either  the 
genitive  or  the  plural.  In  early  Modern  English  also,  the 
genitive  -s  was  sometimes  omitted,  if  the  following  word 
began  with  j,  as  *  a  river\^s\  side.'  Examples  in  which  the 
apostrophe  alone  is  added  are  certain  bibHcal  phrases,  as 
*  Jesus*  sake,'  *  conscience'  sake.'  In  the  spoken  form  there 
is  also  a  divergence  in  usage  from  the  table  above.  Poly- 
syllables, sometimes  monosyllables,  ending  in  s  remain  un- 
changed in  the  genitive,  as  ^Achilles'*  wrath,'  ^Xerxes'*  army,' 
instead  of  forms  with  the  extra  syllable  in  iz,  as  Achillesiz. 
This  is  probably  a  retention  of  older  usage  in  the  case  of 
names,  under  the  influence  of  euphony. 

322.  The  use  of  the  apostrophe  in  the  written  form  of 
the  genitive  case  deserves  a  word  of  explanation.  The 
apostrophe  was  originally  used  in  all  kinds  of  words  to  de- 
note contraction.  It  still  marks  the  loss  of  a  consonant  in 
o'er,  e'er,  and  of  a  vowel  in  don't.  In  early  Modern  Eng- 
lish the  apostrophe  was  used  to  mark  the  loss  of  medial  l 

N 


J78       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

in  the  plural,  as  well  as  in  the  genitive  singular.  Later,  it 
came  to  be  restricted  to  the  genitive  singular,  and  was  re- 
garded as  a  sign  of  that  case.  After  the  apostrophe  came 
to  be  regarded  as  a  sign  of  the  genitive  case,  it  was  naturally 
added  in  the  plural  as  well  as  the  singular. 

323.  The  restriction  of  the  apostrophe  to  the  genitive 
case  may  have  been  due  to  the  supposed  derivation  of  that 
case  from  the  personal  pronoun  his.  Owing  to  this  sup- 
posed derivation,  it  was  not  uncommon  in  Elizabethan  times 
to  write  his  instead  of  the  genitive,  especially  after  words 
ending  in  s.  For  example,  the  name  of  one  of  Ben  Jon- 
son's  plays  was  written  *Sejanus  his  Fall,'  although  it  was  no 
doubt  spoken  as  if  written  ^  Sejanusiz  Fall.'  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  this  use  of  his^  her  was  sometimes  placed  after 
feminine  nouns,  as  'Venus  her  glass.*  The  original  confu- 
sion of  the  personal  pronoun  and  the  genitive  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  in  rapid  speech  his  had  the  same  pronunciation 
as  syllabic  -is{es).  Besides,  the  possessive  pronoun  was 
perhaps  sometimes  used  after  the  name  of  the  owner  for 
special  emphasis,  as  the  nominative  also  in  the  dialectal 
expression,  *  John  he  said.* 

324.  In  Modern  English  the  genitive  ending  is  added 
only  to  the  last  word  of  a  syntactical  group,  as  '  the  good 
King  Edward's  crown,*  *the  Queen  of  England's  son,* 
'Jones  and  Thompson's  store,'  *the  man  in  the  moon's 
thornbush.*  Thus,  for  purposes  of  inflection,  such  a  group 
is  treated  as  a  compound  word.  In  Old  English,  as 
in  most  inflected  languages,  an  ending  would  have  been 
added  to  each  noun,  adjective,  and  pronoun  \  for  instance, 
to  goody  kingf  and  Edward  in  the  first  example.     This 


THE  NOUN  171 

group  genitive   is  therefore  one  of  the  most  convenienf 
devices  of  our  analytic  tongue. 

Irregular  Plurals 

325.  Certain  irregular  plurals  in  Modern  English  remain 
to  be  mentioned.  The  most  important  of  these  are  nouns 
which,  as  Old  English  neuters,  had  no  ending  in  the  N.A. 
plural,  and  have  remained  unchanged  to  the  present  time. 
Examples  are  deer^  sheep,  swiney  neat  *  cattle.'  In  Middle 
and  early  Modern  English,  such  examples  are  more  fre- 
quent, and  many  of  them  still  occur  in  occasional  usage 
or  in  certain  expressions.  Thus^/^,  head^  horse,  pound, 
and  yoke  are  sometimes  used  as  plurals  or  collective  singu- 
lars to-day.  The  word  night  is  an  unchanged  plural  in 
sennight,  fortnight;  month  in  the  expression  'a  twelve 
month^  and  pound  in  *a  ten  pound  note.'  Partly  by 
analogy  of  these  unchanged  plurals,  partly  because  of  a 
tendency  to  use  certain  words  in  a  collective  sense,  nouns 
of  measure,  whether  native  or  borrowed  words,  sometimes 
remain  unchanged  after  numerals.  Examples  are  brace, 
bushel,  cannon,  couple,  dozen,  fathom,  foot,  gross,  mile,  quire, 
ream,  ton, 

32C.  Another  class  of  irregular  plurals  includes  nouns 
ending  in  voiceless /or  th,  as  wife,  bath.  In  all  such  words 
the  final/ or  th  was  voiced  before  a  vocalic  ending  in  Old 
and  Middle  EngHsh,  and  this  has  remained  in  the  plurals 
of  certain  words,  or  occasionally  in  the  genitive  of  com- 
pounds, as  in  calves-head.  Other  words  have  assumed  new 
plural  forms  without  voiced /or  th,  by  analogy  of  the  singu- 
iars,  especially  words  containing  short  /  or  u  which  show  no 


180       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

change  of  consonant.  This  change  of/  and  th  originall) 
belonged  only  to  Teutonic  words,  but  one  French  word, 
beef^  shows  a  similar  voicing  oi  f  in  the  plural.  As  wordi 
in  final/ and  ///  show  changes  of  these  letters  in  the  plurals, 
we  should  expect  final  s  to  be  voiced  in  similar  circum- 
stances. This  is  true,  however,  of  but  one  word,  house — 
houses, 

327.  The  irregular  plural  oxen  and  the  poetic  eyen  rep- 
resent the  Old  English  weak  declension.  In  Middle 
English,  -en  plurals  were  numerous,  more  especially  in  the 
Southern  dialect.  In  the  Midland  dialect  they  were  also 
more  common  than  to-day,  for  Chaucer  uses  such  forms  as 
asshen  '  ashes,*  pesen  '  pease,'  hosen  *  hose,'  foon  '  foes,'  been 
*bees,'  foon  'toes.'  Such  words,  however,  have  become 
regular,  except  for  dialectal  forms  which  sometimes  occur. 
A  few  -en  plurals  from  nouns  not  originally  weak  belong  in 
the  following  classes. 

328.  Other  irregular  plurals  are  those  which  show  muta- 
tion, §  250,  as  fnan  —  men.  In  Old  English  mutation  was 
not  a  sign  of  number,  but  as  it  occurred  only  in  the  dative 
of  the  singular,  while  it  was  found  in  the  nominative  and 
accusative  of  the  plural,  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  plural 
sign.  To  this  class  belong  man  —  men,  woman  and  most 
other  compounds  of  man,  foot — feet,  tooth  —  teeth,  goose 
— gsese,  louse  —  lice,  mouse — mice.  The  word  Norman 
*  Northman '  has  the  regular  plural  Normans  since,  though 
originally  Teutonic,  it  came  to  English  from  French  after 
the  loss  of  the  mutated  form.  The  plurals  of  such  words 
as  Englishman,  Frenchman  are  pronounced  like  the  singu- 
lar, though  written  with    its  mutated  form.     The  archaic 


THE  NOUN  181 

word  kine  is  really  a  mutated  plural  of  coiv  (OE.  cu)  to 
which  -en  was  later  added.  On  the  other  hand,  breeches,  a 
mutated  plural  of  OE.  broc,  has  assumed  the  regular  ending 
-es.    These  are  therefore  double  plurals. 

329.  Some  nouns  of  relationship  had  peculiarities  of  in- 
flection in  Old  English.  Most  of  these  have  become  regu- 
lar, but  brother  still  retains  an  older  plural,  brethren,  beside 
the  later  and  regular  b7'others.  The  former  is  a  double 
plural  like  kine,  the  earlier  plural  ending  in  -r,  to  which  -en 
was  later  added.  The  e  of  brethren  is  due  to  mutation, 
although  the  mutated  form  did  not  occur  in  the  OE.  plural. 
Children  is  a  similar  plural  in  -r  +  en,  the  older  form  re- 
maining in  the  dialectal  childer.  Words  with  two  plurals  are 
dice  —  dies  from  die,  pence  — pennies  from  penny.  The  first 
of  each  are  the  older  forms  and  show  early  incorporation 
of  the  ending  into  the  word.  The  second  forms  are  later 
and  regular.  Such  double  forms  are  retained  since  each 
has  come  to  have  a  slightly  different  meaning  or  use. 

330.  The  written  forms  of  some  plurals  deserve  special 
notice.  For  example,  according  to  the  modern  rule,  nouns 
ending  in  -y  (not  ey,  oy)  form  their  plurals  in  -ies.  Histori- 
cally the  plural  is  the  older  form,  and  the  singular  in  -ie  {cf. 
die,  pie)  has  been  changed  to  -y  in  most  cases.  In  some 
words  the  spelling  has  been  influenced  by  analogy,  as 
negroes,  potatoes  by  analogy  oi  foes,  woes. 

331.  Attention  has  been  called  in  §  324  to  the  genitive 
inflection  of  a  syntactical  group.  The  plural  inflection  of 
a  similar  group  shows  less  of  regularity.  In  the  case  of 
groups  made  up  of  a  noun  and  modifying  element,  the  noun 
is  made  plural  whether  the  modifyhig  element  precedes  or 


182       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

follows.  Examples  in  which  the  modifying  element  pre- 
cedes the  noun  are  *  the  Smith  brothers ^  *  butter  ro//s,^  *  two 
foot  rules!'  These  conform  to  ordinary  compounds,  as 
tooth  brushes,  goose  eggs,  mouse  traps.  Examples  in  which 
the  modifying  element  follows  the  noun  are  *  j^^zj-in-law,' 

*  hangers  on,'  ^  covtmanders-\xi-Q\i\ti^  ^states  general/  *  knights 
errant,'  '  courts  martial,'  *  the  Misses  Smith,'  *  the  Doctors 
Brown.'  Another  group,  consisting  of  verb  phrases  or  ad- 
jective phrases  used  substantively,  adds  the  plural  sign  at 
the  end  of  the  group,  as  '  forget-me-«^/$-,'  *  go-betweens' 

*  four-per-r^«A,'  '  iwo-hy-fours.'  Under  the  influence  of  the 
latter,  and  perhaps  also  under  the  influence  of  the  group 
genitive,  groups  made  up  of  a  noun  and  modifying  element 
sometimes  take  the  plural  sign  at  the  end  of  the  group.  In 
this  way  '  sons-m-\2iVf'  sometimes  becomes  *  son-m-laws.* 
Such  forms  as  '  court  martialSj  *  the  Miss  Smiths,'  '  the  two 
Doctor  Smiths '  are  also  not  uncommon. 

332.  In  a  few  cases,  both  parts  of  a  group  are  made 
plural.  The  only  examples  among  native  words  are  those 
with  man,  woman,  for  the  first  element,  as  men  folks,  men 
children,  women  writers.  Besides  these  there  are  a  few 
borrowed  compounds  which  are  similarly  irregular,  as  lords 
lieutenants,  knights  templars.  In  the  latter  cases,  the  whole 
expression  may  be  said  to  be  borrowed  and  has  therefore 
retained  its  original  inflection. 

Borrowed  Words 

333.  Most  borrowed  words  entering  the  language  in  Old, 
Middle,  and  early  Modern  English  have  assumed  the  inflec- 
tion of  native  words.     It  is  true  that  in  Middle  English  for- 


THE  NOUN  183 

eign  words  ending  in  s  remained  unchanged  in  the  plural, 
as  sometimes  in  the  genitive  singular.  Later,  however,  these 
words  were  regularized,  except  for  the  genitive  case,  §  321. 
It  was  only  when  learned  words  began  to  be  borrowed  in 
modern  times  that  foreign  plurals  were  also  adopted,  as 
formula — formulce,  radius  —  radii.  The  present  tendency 
of  the  language,  though  not  a  strong  one,  is  to  rid  itself 
of  these  foreign  plurals,  except  where  the  foreign  form  has 
come  to  have  a  special  meaning,  as  indices  beside  indexes. 

Gender  in  Modern  English 

334.  The  loss  of  grammatical  gender  has  been  already 
noticed  as  owing  to  the  loss  of  distinctive  endings,  §  316. 
For  example.  Old  English  had  two  words  for  'brother's 
child,'  nefa  masculine,  and  ne/e  feminine.  Both  of  these 
forms  became  ne/e  in  Middle  English,  and  the  distinction  of 
gender  was  necessarily  lost.  With  the  loss  of  grammatical 
gender,  natural  gender  alone  was  regarded,  or  in  other 
words  gender  now  belongs  only  to  such  nouns  as  denote  sex. 
The  term  *  neuter  gender '  is  still  used  not  in  reference  to 
distinctive  endings  as  in  Latin  or  Old  English,  but  for  nouns 
having  no  relation  to  sex,  or  for  some  applied  to  either  sex, 
as  child  and  Jish.  Besides,  the  term  '  common  gender  *  is 
sometimes  used,  though  the  distinction  impHed  is  not  usu- 
ally an  important  one. 

335.  When  the  endings  for  grammatical  gender  were  lost, 
there  was  no  means  of  expressing  the  distinction,  except  by 
different  words  or  by  different  prefixes  and  suffixes.  Differ- 
ent words  to  express  gender  naturally  go  in  pairs,  as  father 
'- — mother,  brother — sister ^  son  —  daughter.     Some  of  these 


184      THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

pairs,  as  those  just  cited,  belong  to  Old  English.  In  othtt 
cases  a  foreign  word  has  been  joined  to  a  native  one,  as 
French  countess^  the  present  feminine  of  English  earL  So 
bachelor  is  French,  maid  and  spinster  English,  and  husband^ 
from  Norse,  is  now  masculine  to  English  wife.  In  still  other 
cases  both  words  are  borrowed,  as  uncle  —  aunt  from  French, 
and  lad — lass^  which  have  been  said  to  be  Welsh,  but  may 
be  Teutonic.  Of  much  later  introduction  are  such  foreign 
pairs  as  executor  —  executrix^  sultan  —  sultana. 

336.  Certain  suffixes  expressing  gender  show  considera- 
ble changes  since  Old  English  times.  The  most  frequent 
feminine  suffix  of  Modern  English  is  -ess^  which  is  of  French 
origin.  In  Old  English,  however,  there  was  another  femi- 
nine suffix,  -estrCf  now  -ster  as  in  songster.  This  corresponded 
to  a  masculine  suffix  -ere,  Modern  English  -er,  implying  the 
agent.  Old  English  included  many  pairs  of  words  with 
these  distinctive  endings,  as  bcecere  '  baker,'  bcecestre  *  female 
baker ' ;  sangere  *  singer,*  sangestre  *  female  singer.'  With  the 
loss  of  grammatical  gender  the  significance  of  these  suffixes 
also  disappeared.  Owing  to  this,  the  suffix  -ster  came  to  be 
regarded  as  masculine  or,  more  exactly,  lost  all  sex  signifi- 
cance as  in  tapster,  huckster,  gamester,  chorister,  youngster. 
One  such  word,  spinster,  is  still  applied  only  to  women, 
but  without  thought  of  its  being  originally  the  feminine  of 
spinner.  A  number  of  proper  names  had  their  origin  in 
words  with  this  ending,  as  Webster,  originally  '  the  woman 
who  weaves,*  Baxter  '  the  woman  who  bakes.'  Two  words 
songstress,  seamstress  have  become  double  feminines  by  the 
addition  of  the  French  -ess,  to  English  -ster  after  the  femi- 
nine significance  of  the  latter  had  been  lost. 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  ADJECTIVE 


337.  The  Old  English  adjective  had  two  declensions 
distinguishing  a  twofold  use.  The  second  of  these  forms, 
as  given  below,  was  used  after  a  demonstrative  pronoun,  and 
the  first  in  most  other  cases.  Both  these  declensions  of  the 
adjective  are  still  preserved  in  Modern  German,  though 
endrely  lost  in  Modern  Enghsh.  The  inflectional  endings 
of  the  two  declensions  corresponded  in  the  main  to  those 
of  strong  and  weak  nouns,  except  that  some  of  the  originai 
noun  endings  had  been  replaced  by  the  corresponding  forms 
of  the  pronoun. 

338.  The  declensions  of  the  Old  English  adjective  may 
be  represented  by  the  forms  of  god '  good,'  although  certain 
adjectives  differ  in  minor  particulars. 


gode 


The  Strong  Form. 

The  Weak  Form 

MASC.              NEUT. 

FEM. 

MASC 

NEUT.              F 

Singular. 

Singular. 

N.V. 

god                 god 

god 

goda 

gode              g 

G. 

godes 

godre 

gSdan 

D. 

godum 

godre 

godan 

A. 

godue             god 

gode 

godan 

gode             g 

I. 

gode 
Plural. 

godan 
Plural. 

N.V.  A. 

gode              god 

goda(e) 

godan 

G. 

godra 

godra(ena) 

D.I. 

godum 

godum 

godan 


185 


186       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

339.  The  breaking  down  of  inflectional  forms  which 
affected  all  words  in  the  late  Old  English,  and  the  early 
Middle  English,  period  was  very  thoroughgoing  in  the  case 
of  the  adjective.  Even  in  the  first  century  o^  Middle 
English  ( 1 100-1200)  all  adjective  endings  had  been  re- 
duced to  -e.  Moreover,  this  -e  was  found  as  a  distinctive 
sign  only  in  the  plural  of  the  weak  declension,  and  occa- 
sionally in  the  dative  singular  of  the  strong.  Adjectives 
ending  in  -e  in  the  nominative  singular,  showed  no  variation 
for  the  plural  or  the  weak  forms.  The  usual  inflection  of 
the  Middle  English  adjective  may  be  given  as  follows  :  — 

I.  II. 

Strong.      Weak.  Strong  and  Weak. 

Singular,       god  gode  grene 

Plural,  gode  gode  grene 

340.  The  adjective  retained  these  inflectional  forms  in 
the  main  through  the  fourteenth  century.  But  even  in 
Chaucer  the  distinctive  -e  of  the  weak  form,  and  of  the 
plural  when  used  predicatively,  was  sometimes  lost.  Final 
-e  in  adjectives,  as  in  all  other  words,  might  also  be  eUded 
before  a  word  beginning  with  a  vowel  or  weak  h.  All  these 
facts  show  the  tendency  toward  dropping  inflectional  -e  in 
adjectives,  a  change  which  was  completed  as  early  as  the 
fifteenth  century,  if  not  somewhat  before  that  time.  In 
Caxton,  for  example,  the  adjective  seldom  retains  inflectional 
-e  even  in  the  written  form. 

341.  While  the  above  statement  is  true  for  the  great 
majority  of  adjectives,  there  are  a  few  relics  of  older  forms 
in  Middle  English,  and  some  of  these  have  remained  to 


THE  ADJECTIVE  187 

modern  times.  For  example,  an  old  genitive  plural  of 
all  is  found  in  the  form  aller,  alder.  Chaucer  has  the 
expression  '  youre  aller  cost,'  which  means  '  cost  of  you 
all,'  and  alderbest  '  best  of  all.'  Even  Shakespeare  uses 
alderliefest  *  dearest  of  all*  It  has  been  sometimes  said 
that  the  word  olden  in  such  expressions  as  *  the  olden  time,' 
retains  the  -en  ending  of  the  weak  declension.  But  it  is 
more  probable  that  this  is  a  later  formation  by  analogy 
of  such  adjectives  ^.-s,  golden ^  brazen^  flaxen. 

342.  Besides  these  relics  of  the  older  inflection  of  the 
adjective,  there  are  a  few  exceptional  forms  in  foreign  words. 
In  the  main,  as  in  the  case  of  nouns,  borrowed  adjectives 
assumed  the  inflection  of  words  of  native  origin.  A  very 
few  French  adjectives  retained  in  Middle  English  the  French 
plural  in  -j,  although  usually  only  in  certain  phrases.  Chau- 
cer has  occasionally  such  an  expression  as  places  delectables 
'  pleasant  places '  in  which  the  adjective  has  both  the 
French  position  and  inflection.  It  is  worth  noting,  how- 
ever, that  this  French  inflection  of  the  adjective  commonly 
occurs  only  in  the  prose  of  Chaucer,  which  was  translated 
directly  from  French.  Caxton  also  has  a  similar  expression 
knightes  errauntes,  though  also  knightes  erraunt.  A  few 
such  expressions  have  also  been  retained  to  the  present 
time,  as  lords  justices,  knights  templars,  to  which  attention 
has  already  been  called  under  nouns,  §  332.  Such  forms, 
however,  are  rare  even  in  Middle  English,  and  must  be 
regarded  as  borrowed  expressions  rather  than  as  due  to 
the  borrowing  of  an  inflectional  form. 

343.  The  changes  in  the  adjective  from  Middle  to 
Modern  English  are  few  and  simple.     With  the  dropping 


188       THE  HISrORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

of  final  Cy  which  affected  all  words  in  late  Middle  English, 
all  forms  of  the  adjective,  both  strong  and  weak,  singular 
and  plural,  became  alike,  so  that  the  Modern  English 
adjective  has  no  change  in  form  to  express  gender,  number, 
or  case.  While  this  is  true,  certain  adjectives  when  used 
substantively  have  developed  an  -s  plural  after  the  analogy 
of  nouns.  In  Chaucer  the  gentils  is  so  used.  Shakespeare 
used  such  forms  more  frequently,  as  gentles,  severals  and 
generals,  mechanicals,  likes,  elders.  As  a  result  of  this 
tendency,  certain  plurals  of  adjectives  have  come  to  be 
regularly  used  as  nouns.  Examples  are  commons,  elders, 
betters,  sweets,  vegetables,  particulars,  necessaries.  Besides, 
certain  pronominal  adjectives  also  have  inflected  forms  as 
shown  in  §  399. 

344.  Two  adjectives  require  special  attention,  the  articles 
a,  an,  and  the,  but  these  will  be  considered  in  relation  to 
the  words  from  which  they  have  sprung.  The  one  is 
historically  a  numeral,  §  354,  the  other  a  demonstrative, 

§  380.  Under  the  head  of  the  adjective  rightly  comes,  j 
however,  the  consideration  of  derivative  forms  that  express  ^ 
degrees  of  adjectival  force,  or  comparison,  as  it  is  called. 

Comparison 

345.  The  comparison  of  adjectives  by  means  of  deriva-  j 
tive  endings  belonged  to  the  Indo-European  language,  as 
shown  by  its  occurrence  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Sanskrit  as 
well  as  in  Teutonic.  In  Teutonic  there  were  two  sets  of 
endings  for  comparative  and  superlative,  but  in  general  Old 
English  retained  but  one.     The  Old  English  endings  were 


THE  ADJECTIVE  189 

-ra  for  the  comparative  and  -ost  {est)  for  the  superlative. 
An  example  of  an  Old  English  word  in  the  three  forms  is 
heard —  heardra  —  heardost '  hard  —  harder  —  hardest.*  In 
addition  to  this  regular  form  of  comparison  there  were  a 
few  irregular  forms  which  will  be  explained  in  a  following 
section. 

346.  The  explanation  of  our  modern  forms  is  exceedingly 
simple.  In  early  Middle  English  the  endings  for  compari- 
son became  -re,  -est,  by  the  weakening  of  unstressed  a  and 
0.  By  the  time  of  Chaucer  they  were  more  commonly 
written  -er,  -est,  as  at  present,  with  only  an  occasional  com- 
parative form  in  -re.  The  comparative  ending  -re  came  to 
be  written  -er  after  the  loss  of  final  e,  by  analogy  of  other 
English  words  ending  in  -er.  In  only  one  word,  more,  is 
the  Middle  English  -re  ending  still  retained. 

347.  Certain  irregular  forms  of  comparison  have  been 
mentioned  in  §  345.  Most  of  these  are  really  regular  forms 
from  the  second  set  of  endings  already  referred  to  as  occur- 
ring in  Teutonic.  The  apparent  irregularity  is  due  to  muta- 
tion, which  was  caused  by  the  vowel  i  of  the  second  set  of 
endings.  For  example,  in  Old  English,  strong  was  compared 
strong  —  strengra — strengest.  In  Middle  English  most  of 
these  mutated  forms  gave  way  to  regular  formations  by 
analogy,  but  several  have  been  preserved  to  modern  times. 
Examples  are  elder  —  eldest,  now  used  as  descriptive  adjec- 
tives beside  the  regular  forms  used  in  comparison.  Mutated 
forms  also  occur  in  better  —  best,  used  to  complete  the  com- 
parison oi good.  These  are  from  a  root  *^^/ which  was  not 
preserved  in  Old  English.  In  the  same  way,  less  and  least 
come  from  mutated  forms  of  a  stem  *las,  meaning  '  weaJs.* 


190       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

348.  Attention  has  been  called  to  certain  double  plurals 
of  nouns,  as  brethren  and  children.  Among  adjectives  there 
are  also  some  double  forms  of  comparison,  as  foremost^ 
hindmost^  inmost,  outmost.  These  spring  from  original 
superlatives  with  an  -m  suffix  seen  in  OE. /or-ma  *  first.' 
Even  in  Old  English  some  of  these  had  taken  a  second 
superlative  ending  -est,  as  innemest  *  inmost.'  Later  the 
double  superlative  ending  -mest  was  associated  with  most, 
which  had  come  to  be  used  in  comparison,  so  that  the  latter 
finally  displaced  the  former.  We  thus  have  such  forms  as 
inmost,  utmost  a.nd  outmost,  foremost,  and  others.  Of  these 
outmost,  foremost  {OE.  fyrmest)  have  had  their  first  vowels 
changed  by  analogy  of  out  dCcA  fore.  The  older  form  utmost 
shows  regular  vowel  shortening,  §  244. 

349.  Still  more  anomalous  forms  also  occur.  By  analogy 
of  such  Middle  English  superlatives  as  aftermost,  the  new 
superlatives  uttermost,  furthermost,  were  formed  from  the 
comparatives  utter  and  further.  After  these  double  superla- 
tives had  established  themselves,  the  double  comparatives 
furthermore,  uttermore,  the  latter  now  obsolete,  were  formed. 
On  the  basis  of  the  old  superlative  y^r/^;«,  a  later  compara- 
tive/7r;«<fr  was  also  made  to  correspond  with  latter. 

350.  The  new  forms  due  to  analogy  in  the  case  of  strong 
and  old  have  been  already  pointed  out.  Several  other  com- 
paratives and  superlatives  are  also  analogical  forms.  Late 
has  later — latest,  beside  the  older  latter — last,  both  of 
which  have  lost  something  of  their  comparative  force. 
Nearer — nearest  are  examples  of  new  forms  based  upon 
an  older  comparative  near,  the  older  comparison  being 
nigh  —  near —  next.     In  a  similar  way  woj'ser  and  lesser  are 


THE  ADJECTIVE  191 

based  on  true  comparatives  worse,  less.  Far  has  two  sets 
of  comparative  and  superlative  forms  used  somewhat  indis- 
criminately z.%  farther — farthest,  further — furthest.  Only 
one  of  these  is  original,  the  comparative  further.  The  su- 
perlative of  further  was  fyrst  (first),  which  has  become 
entirely  separated  from  the  series.  Later  the  superlative 
furthest  was  formed  by  analogy,  together  with  the  remaining 
forms  from  far.  More  —  most  are  from  an  original  adverb 
ma,  which  became  an  adjective  in  Middle  English  and 
remained  in  early  Modern  English  as  moe. 

351.  The  comparison  of  adjectives  by  the  adverbs  more 
and  most  is  not  found  in  Old  English.  It  occurs  first  in 
the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  although  it  is  not 
common  till  the  time  of  Chaucer.  Just  how  this  form  of 
comparison  came  into  use  is  not  determined,  but  it  probably 
arose  from  an  extension  of  the  use  of  these  common  adverbs 
with  participles,  and  adjectives  not  strictly  allowing  com- 
parison. At  first  more  and  most  were  used  indiscriminately 
with  the  other  form  of  comparison,  but  later  the  diiferentia- 
tion  in  present  use  came  into  existence. 

Numerals 

352.  The  numerals  may  be  classed  with  adjectives  owing 
to  their  use  as  adjectives  in  Modern  English.  In  Old  Eng- 
lish, however,  the  words  for  hundred  and  thousand  were 
neuter  iiouns,  and  the  numerals  from  twenty  to  ninety  were 
commonly  so  used.  The  words  for  one,  two,  three,  alone 
had  variations  for  gender,  while  one  was  also  inflected 
in  both  numbers,  with  the  special  meaning  in  the  plural  of 


m       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

*  alone,'  *only.'  In  the  Middle  English  period,  owing  largely 
to  the  breaking  down  of  inflectional  endings,  the  present 
adjective  use  of  numerals  became  established. 

353.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Teutonic  system 
of  numbering  was  at  one  time  duodecimal,  not  decimal ; 
that  is,  the  Teutons  originally  counted  by  twelves  instead  of 
by  tens.  Later  the  decimal  system  largely  displaced  the 
other,  although  there  are  still  some  relics  of  the  original 
form.  Thus  after  twelve,  not  at  eleven  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, a  change  is  made  to  a  series  of  numerals  ending 
in  -teen  *  ten.*  In  the  oldest  period  of  English,  also,  the 
word  hund  *  hundred  *  was  prefixed  to  every  numeral  from 
seventy  to  one  hundred  twenty.  The  latter  was  the  '  hun- 
dred '  in  the  duodecimal  system.  In  German,  klein  hufidert 
and  gross  hundert  *  little  hundred,  great  hundred '  are  still 
used. 

354.  The  first  cardinal  numeral  in  Old  English,  an^ 
should  have  given  a  Modern  English  form  with  the  vowel 
of  stone.  This  form  is  found  only  in  compounds  of  the 
numeral,  as  alone,  only,  atone,  no.  Besides,  there  have  been 
two  other  developments  of  the  older  form.  The  numeral 
one  and  adverb  once  show  a  form  shortened  and  modified 
to  the  vowel  in  but.  In  speech  they  have  also  developed 
an  initial  w  which  is  not  represented  in  the  written  words. 
A  third  form  appears  in  the  indefinite  article  an,  a,  an  im- 
portant offshoot  of  the  numeral.  The  article  shows  early 
shortening  of  the  vowel  and  later  loss  of  final  n  before 
words  beginning  with  a  consonant.  The  change  from 
numeral  to  article  is  due  to  a  gradual  loss  of  the  numerical 
idea  when  the  latter  was  unimportant.      The  older  signi- 


THE  ADJECTIVE 


193 


fication  still  occurs  in  such  expressions  as  ^a  day  or  two/ 
equivalent  to  *one  or  two  days.' 

355.  The  process  by  which  an  lost  its  final  n  and  became 
a  before  words  beginning  with  a  consonant,  was  a  gradual 
one,  as  in  the  pronoun  forms  my,  7?ime,  thy,  thine,  §  377.  In 
Chaucer's  time  a  similar  loss  occurred  in  the  numeral  which 
also  had  two  forms  on,  0(00),  the  latter  before  a  consonant. 
Two  other  words,  none,  no  <i  OE.  nan  (ne+  an),  show  the 
same  differentiation  in  form  and  sounds.  Connected  with 
this  Old  English  numeral  is  nonce  in  'for  the  nonce'  §  381. 
The  Old  English  plural  sense  of  *  only '  has  been  lost 
through  the  loss  of  inflectional  forms,  although  the  numeral 
one  has  the  new  genitive  one's  and  the  plural  ones. 

356.  The  second  and  third  cardinal  numerals  were  de- 
clined as  follows  :  — 


MASC. 

NEUT.               FEM. 

MASC. 

NEUT. 

FEM. 

N.      twegen 

tu,  twa                   twa 

«ri,  •Srie 

■Sreo 

«reo 

G. 

tweg(e)a,  twegra 

•Sreora 

D.I. 

twsem,  twam 

^rim 

The  Modern  English  forms  tivo  and  three  have  come  from 
the  neuter-feminine  tiva  and  'dr'eo.  The  use  of  each  of 
these  for  two  genders  easily  accounts  for  its  displacement 
of  the  less  common  mascuUne.  The  masculine  tiuegen, 
however,  is  found  in  Modern  Enghsh  twain,  and  the  same 
root  occurs  in  between,  betwixt.  The  masculine  dn  is  also 
preserved  in  thrice,  and  with  shortened  vowel  and  metathe- 
sis in  thirteen,  thirty. 

357.    The   remaining    cardinals   require   little   attention. 
Modern  EngHsh^z/^,  twelve y  with  v  instead  of/  come  from 


194       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

the  inflected  forms  fife,  twelfe  (/=  v),  which  established 
themselves  in  Middle  English  as  the  regular  forms.  The 
numerals  from  thirteen  to  nineteen  are  compounds  with  the 
OE.  suffix  fene  *  ten.'  The  ending  -ty  of  twenty,  thirty,  etc. 
comes  from  OE.  -tig,  meaning  *  a  ten.'  In  the  older  lan- 
guage there  was  no  numeral  beyond  thousand  (OE.  'Susand) . 
Million  was  added  in  Middle  English  from  the  French,  and 
later  from  the  same  source  billion,  trillion,  quadrillion,  etc., 
formed  by  analogy  from  the  Latin  prefixes  bi,  tri,  etc.,  and 
the  assumed  root  -illion, 

358.  The  ordinals  of  presenit  English  differ  in  several 
particulars  from  the  oldest  forms,  the  most  marked  changes 
being  due  to  analogy.  'For  first  hoih.  forma  zndifyrestyftrt 
once  used,  the  latter  alone  being  preserved  as  the  ordinal. 
Instead  of  second,  which  was  borrowed  from  French,  Old 
English  used  dder  *  other.'  The  older  numerical  idea 
accounts  for  certain  expressions  in  English  as  *  one  or  the 
other^  '  one  and  another^  although  all  idea  of  the  numeral 
is  now  lost.  The  ordinals  third,  fourth,  eighth  are  direct 
descendants  of  OE.  'dridda  {dirda),  feowerda,  eahteoda; 
\m\.  fifth,  sixth,  tivelfth  have  changed  final  /  to  ih  by  analogy 
of  other  th  forms,  the  Old  English  ordinals  h€\ngfifta,  sixta, 
twelfta.  These  older  forms  were  preserved  to  Shakespeare's 
time,  as  shown  by  the  titles  Henry  the  Fift,  Henry  the  Sixt, 
and  Twelfe-Night  in  the  first  FoHo,  the  latter  with  loss  of  / 
after/. 

359.  Analogy  has  also  influenced  the  forms  seventh,  ninth, 
tenth,  eleventh,  thirteenth  to  nineteenth,  these  originally  having 
th,  but  not  n,  which  rightly  belongs  to  the  cardinals  only. 
Still  later,  or  in  early  Modern  Eriglish,  the  ending  th  was 


THE  ADJECTIVE  195 

extended  to  hundredy  thousand,  and  the  higher  cardinals, 
which  had  originally  no  ordinal  form.  As  a  result  of  these 
changes  all  ordinals  except  the  first  three  are  now  formed 
by  adding  th  to  the  cardinal,  although  they  once  differed 
considerably  from  these  forms. 

360.  The  formation  of  multiplicatives  is  the  same  as  in 
Old  English  times,  the  adjective  suffix  fold  <  OE.  feald 
being  added  to  the  cardinals,  although  one-fold  is  no  longer 
used.  Some  words  with  multiplicative  idea  have  been  in- 
troduced from  French,  as  double,  treble,  and  later  triple, 
while  two-ply,  three-ply  are  hybrids,  made  up  of  English  and 
French.  The  present  Enghsh  distributives,  two  by  two, 
three  by  three,  are  scarcely  a  preservation  from  Old  English 
times,  since  and  was  used  instead  of  by,  and  the  numeral 
was  in  the  dative-instrumental  case,  as  iwam  and  iw'ctm 
'  two  by  two.'  The  older  form  occurs  in  the  Bible  as  two 
and  two.  Gen.  7:9,  in  Shakespeare,  as  in  Henry  IV^  III, 
iii,  104,  and  sometimes  colloquially. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE  PRONOUN 

361.  The  pronouns  have  this  interest  in  particular,  that 
they  retain  forms  connected  with  the  earliest  Indo-European 
on  the  one  hand,  and  with  present  European  tongues  on 
the  other.  Besides,  they  have  suffered  fewer  losses  of  in- 
flectional endings  than  nouns  and  adjectives ;  that  is,  pro- 
nouns have  preserved  three  case  forms,  while  nouns  have 
kept  but  two,  and  adjectives  but  one.  The  order  in  which 
ihe  various  classes  of  pronouns  may  be  treated  is  a  matter 
of  convenience,  rather  than  of  logical  or  historical  sequence. 
Here  they  will  be  considered  in  the  order  of  personal,  re- 
flexive, possessive,  demonstrative,  interrogative,  relative, 
and  indefinite. 

The  Personal  Pronouns 

362.  The  pronouns  of  the  first  and  second  person,  which 

may  be  separated  from  that  of  the  third  person  because 

they  have  no  forms  expressing  gender,  were  declined  in  Old 

English  as  follows ;  — 

First  Person. 
Singular,  Dual.  Plural. 


N. 

ic,ic 

wit,  wit 

we,  we 

G. 

min 

uncer 

user,  ure 

D.I. 

me,  me 

unc 

us 

A. 

mec,  me, 

me 

uncit,  unc 

iisic,  us 

196 


THE  PRONOUN 

Second  Person. 

Singular. 

Dual. 

Plural. 

N.V. 

^u,  ^u 

git,  git 

ge,  ge,  gie 

G. 

•Sin 

incer 

eower 

D.I. 

«e,  «i 

inc 

eow 

A. 

i 

«ec,  «e,  «i 

incit,  inc 

eowic,  eow 

197 


The  forms  with  long  vowels  following  those  with  short 
vowels  above,  as  tc,  rne^  we,  represent  lengthenings  in  late 
Old  English. 

363.  The  changes  in  these  pronouns  have  been  consider- 
able. First,  all  trace  of  a  dual  number  was  lost  in  early 
Middle  EngHsh.  At  the  same  time,  also,  the  genitives  of 
the  personal  pronoun  were  usually  displaced  by  possessive 
pronouns  derived  from  them.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  possessive  pronouns  were  regularly  inflected,  as 
genitives  of  course  were  not.  The  genitive  form  is  still 
retained  in  its  place  in  the  pronoun  inflection,  with  a  paren- 
thesis to  indicate  its  more  restricted  use. 

364.  It  will  be  seen  that,  even  in  Old  English,  the  datives 
were  beginning  to  supplant  the  older  accusatives,  as  shown 
by  me  beside  the  accusative  mec,  de  beside  "dec.  In  late 
Old  English  the  change  was  fully  completed,  so  that  no 
rehcs  of  the  separate  accusatives  now  remain,  me,  us,  you, 
thee,  being  both  dative  and  accusative  in  use.  In  early 
Middle  English,  therefore,  the  first  and  second  personal 
pronouns  were  inflected  as  follows :  — 


SlNGULAR„ 

Plural. 

Singular. 

Plural. 

N.           ik,  i 

we 

Jju  (thou) 

Se,  ye 

G.         (min) 

(ure) 

(Hn) 

(5ur,  your) 

D.A.    me 

us 

>i 

5UW,  5u,  you. 

198       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

The  sign  S  in  5?,  5«r,  etc.,  represents  a  consonant  simi\ar 
to^.  The  forms  in  Chaucer  were  essentially  the  same  as 
those  above,  with  the  exception  of  the  Southern  ich,  now 
preserved  only  as  a  dialectal  form  in  southwestern  England. 

365.  In  accounting  for  our  Modern  English  forms  of  the 
pronouns,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  have  usually 
little  sentence  stress,  so  that  weak  forms  naturally  came  to 
exist  beside  the  strong  forms.  This  accounts  for  Middle 
English  t  beside  //&,  the  former  alone  having  survived  in  our 
pronoun  /.  It  also  accounts  for  short  u  in  us,  as  well  as  for 
you,  your  instead  of  forms  with  the  diphthong  of  house,  as 
would  be  expected  from  the  older  words.  The  remaining 
forms  in  common  use,  me  and  we,  still  have  short  vowels 
when  unemphatic.  From  what  is  said  above,  thou  should 
have  a  vowel  like  that  oiyou,  but  in  the  case  of  this  archaic 
word  the  strong  form  has  displaced  the  weak,  which  existed 
in  earlier  speech. 

366.  During  the  Middle  English  period,  the  plural  ye, 
you,  began  to  be  used  in  ceremonious  address  in  place  of 
the  singular.  This  was  due  to  French,  and  perhaps  to  clas- 
sical, influence.  Such  a  use  occurs  first  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  by  Chaucer's  time  was  common.  During  all 
this  time  the  older  singular  remained  among  the  common 
people,  and  was  probably  employed  to  some  extent  by  the 
upper  classes,  as  well  as  by  superiors  to  inferiors.  It  also 
continued  to  be  used  by  the  poets.  Later,  the  plural  be- 
came common  among  friends,  and  finally  was  also  used  in 
addressing  inferiors. 

367.  In  the  language  of  literature,  especially  poetry,  a 
traditional  use  of  thou  beside  you  has  been  more  or  less 


THE  PRONOUN  19* 

common  since  Middle  English  times.  The  ordinary  state- 
ment that  the  older  distinctive  use  of  thou  and  you  occurs  in 
Shakespeare  is  inaccurate,  as  shown  by  careful  investigation. 
There  are,  however,  occasional  references  to  a  use  of  thou 
as  a  term  of  reproach,  for  example  in  Twelfth  Night,  III,  2, 
48.  How  long  the  older  singular  remained  in  use  among 
common  people  in  England  is  difficult  to  say.  The  speech 
of  the  Friends,  or  Quakers,  is  in  this  respect  no  criterion, 
since  their  usage  is  in  imitation  of  biblical  language  and  is 
retained  as  more  or  less  of  a  religious  obligation. 

368.  In  the  older  inflection  ye  was  nominative  and  you 
accusative.  The  two  forms  remained  thus  distinguished  in 
case  through  Middle  and  early  Modern  English.  In  Shake- 
speare's time,  however,  J^'^^^  was  often  used  for  ye  and  some- 
times jf<?  for^^z^.  Later,  the  original  accusative  j'^«  established 
itself  as  both  nominative  and  accusative,  while  ye  became 
archaic  and  poetic.  There  are  to-day,  therefore,  two  para- 
digms for  the  second  personal  pronoun,  one  in  common  use 
with  you  {your) ,  you  in  both  singular  and  plural ;  the  other 
with  thou  {thy),  thee,  in  the  singular,  and  ye  {your),  you,  in 
the  plural.  The  older  ye  in  the  nominative  accounts  for 
some  forms  which  occur  in  the  early  literature  and  are 
still  colloquial  or  dialectal.  Thus,  in  its  weak  form,  ye  not 
only  shortened  its  vowel,  but  sometimes  lost  initial  ;;,  as 
in  the  colloquial  how  do  you  do,  phonetically  hau  d  i  du. 
The  weak  form  is  also  preserved  in  the  older  and  dialectal 
harkee,  lookee,  thankee. 

369.  The  displacement  of  the  original  nominative  ye  by 
the  accusative  you  was  due  to  analogy  with  nouns,  which 
have   the   same   form   for  nominative   and   accusative.     A 


200       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

similar  tendency  is  shown  in  the  first  personal  pronoun,  the 
nominative  of  which  is  sometimes  used  for  the  accusative, 
and  vice  versa.  Such  forms  are  not  uncommon  in  Shake- 
speare, as  in  the  examples, 

«« My  father  hath  no  child  but  /,"  As  You  Like  It,  I,  2,  l8; 
**  Is  she  as  tall  as  me  ?  "  Antony^  III,  3,  14. 

These  forms  also  occur  in  dialects,  and  '  it  is  me '  is  said  to 
be  good  colloquial  Enghsh  in  Britain.  The  latter  is  less 
common  in  America,  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  schools. 
Other  dialectal  forms  belonging  with  those  here  noticed  are 
exemplified  by  such  expressions  as  *  between  you  and  /,' 
'  me  and  John  saw  it.' 

370.   The  third  personal  pronoun  was  declined  in  Old 
English  as  follows  :  — 


Singular. 

Masc. 

Neut. 

Fern, 

N. 

he,  hi 

hit 

heo,  hie,  hi 

G. 

his 

hiere,  hire 

D.I. 

him 

hiere,  hire 

A. 

hi(e)ne 

hit 

hie,  hi,  heo 

Plural. 

(^All  Genders:) 

N.A.     hie,  heo,  hi 

G.         hiera,  hira 

D.I.      him,  heom 


The  changes  are  here  more  considerable  than  in  the  case  of 
the  other  personal  pronouns.  In  general,  nothing  of  the 
plural  remains  in  standard  English,  while  the  singular  femi- 
nine nominative  and  neuter  genitive  have  been  replaced  by 
other  forms.  Besides,  the  masculine  and  feminine  datives 
have  replaced  the  accusatives  as  in  the  other  pronouns, 
although  the  neuter  accusative  has  been  retained  through 
likeness  to  the  nominative. 


THE  PRONOUN  201 

371.  With  the  displacement  of  the  old  accusative  by  the 
dative,  the  masculine  singular  remained  as  at  present.  In 
English  dialects,  however,  an  accusative  'un  corresponds  to 
a  weak  form  of  OE.  hine.  The  neuter  nominative-accusa- 
tive //  instead  of  hit^  is  due  to  a  weak  form  without  h.  The 
original  neuter  genitive  his  remained  to  early  Modern  Eng- 
lish times.  For  example,  the  English  Bible  of  161 1  used 
the  genitive  his,  as  in  Gen.  i  :  12,  or  substituted  the  phrase 
thereof.  Later,  //  was  sometimes  used  for  the  genitive,  as 
in  Lear,  I,  4,  235,  but  gradually  its  estabhshed  itself. 

372.  The  feminine  she  of  Modern  English  is  derived,  not 
from  the  third  personal  pronoun,  but  from  the  feminine 
demonstrative  slo,  which  before  1150  began  to  replace  the 
regular  form.  In  Chaucer's  time  it  had  become  fully 
established  with  the  spelling  she  {shee)  as  now,  the  s  having 
become  palatalized  to  sh.  An  old  form  with  initial  h  still 
remains  in  English  dialects,  as  in  Lancashire  ho,  pronounced 
like  he-  of  her.  The  dative  her  became  accusative  as  in 
masculine  forms. 

373.  Owing  to  the  confusion  with  the  singular  in  Middle 
English,  the  plural  of  the  third  personal  pronoun  was 
replaced  by  plural  forms  of  the  demonstrative.  Moreover, 
it  is  necessary  to  assume  that,  as  far  as  vowels  are  con- 
cerned, English  they,  their,  are  derived  from  Norse  'dei{r), 
deira,  rather  than  from  OE.  da,  dara.  The  dative-accusative 
the7n  might  have  sprung  from  either  OE.  dTetn,  or  Norse 
"Seim,  by  shortening  of  the  vowel  or  diphthong.  The  nomi- 
native they  first  estabhshed  itself.  It  is  found  in  Chaucer 
beside  the  genitive  here  and  dative-accusative  he?n.  By  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  their,  them,  had  displaced  her^ 


\ 


202       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

and  hem^  except  as  the  weak  form  of  the  latter  is  preserved 
in  later  writings  with  the  spelUng  'em.  The  latter  is  also  a 
dialectal  form  at  the  present  day. 

The  Reflexive  Pronouns 

374.  Old  English,  unlike  Latin,  had  no  independent 
reflexive  pronoun,  but  used  instead  the  corresponding  forms 
of  the  personal  pronoun.  The  same  usage  continued  in 
Middle  and  early  Modern  English,  but  in  general  the  per- 
sonal pronoun  has  been  strengthened  by  the  addition  of  the 
emphatic  self,  so  that  myself^  ourselves,  himself,  etc.,  are  the 
ordinary  reflexives.  These  compound  forms  were  originally 
made  up  of  self  and  the  dative-accusative  of  the  personal 
pronouns,  as  in  himself,  itself  herself,  themselves.  But  in 
Middle  English  meself  theself  through  their  weak  forms 
with  short  vowels,  became  myself  thyself,  all  idea  of  the 
original  syntax  having  been  lost.  By  analogy  of  these 
plurals  ourself  yourself  were  formed,  and  in  early  Modern 
English,  under  the  influence  of  nouns  ending  in/,  §  326,  the 
plurals  ourselves,  yourselves,  themselves.  In  Shakespeare, 
ourself  is  used  with  the  royal  we,  ourselves  as  the  ordinary 
plural.  In  dialectal  English  hisself  theirselves  are  also  used 
by  analogy  of  myself,  ourselves. 

The  Possessive  Pronouns 

375.  It  has  been  pointed  out,  §  363,  that  the  so-called 
possessive  cases  of  the  personal  pronouns  usually  represent, 
not  the  old  genitives,  but  possessive  pronouns  derived  from 
them.     This  would  not  be  evident  from  present  English 


THE  PRONOUN  203 

usage.  In  Middle  English,  however,  the  possessives  from 
which  our  modern  forms  have  sprung  were  regularly  in- 
flected like  adjectives,  so  that  they  could  not  have  been 
genitives.  This  is  the  principal  reason  for  a  discussion  of 
the  possessive  pronouns-  as  such. 

376.  The  possessive  pronouns  of  Old  English,  mm,  dtn, 
sin,  were  formed  from  genitives  of  the  personal  pronouns, 
and  from  the  stem  of  an  old  reflexive  cognate  with  Latin 
suus.  These  possessives  were  declined  in  Old  English  like 
strong  adjectives,  §  TfZ^-  But  the  possessive  sin  was  seldom 
used,  its  place  being  suppUed  by  the  genitives  of  the  third 
personal  pronoun.  In  Middle  English,  the  latter  followed 
the  analogy  of  other  possessives  in  becoming  inflected. 

377.  In  early  Middle  English,  the  forms  min  and  thtn^ 
like  the  indefinite  an,%  355,  began  to  lose  final  n  before 
words  beginning  with  a  consonant,  giving  rise  to  the  forms 
my  and  thy.  The  «-forms  were  always  retained  when  the 
pronouns  were  used  absolutely,  as  in  the  book  is  mine.  In 
Modern  English,  my  has  supplanted  the  «-form  except 
when  used  absolutely,  but  mine  before  vowels  is  found  in 
early  Modern  English,  as  in  Shakespeare  and  the  Bible,  and 
it  may  still  be  used  in  poetry.  On  the  contrary,  the  «-forms 
were  extended  by  analogy  in  Middle  English,  giving  rise  to 
hisn,  hern,  theirn,  yourn.  These  are  found  in  the  Wychf 
Bible  (1384),  but  they  have  been  kept  only  in  dialects.  In 
early  Middle  English,  by  analogy  of  his  and  of  nouns  in  the 
genitive  used  absolutely,  some  of  the  possessives  also  be- 
gan to  take  final  s,  as  ours,  yours,  hers,  theirs.  The  last 
mentioned,  theirs,  is  as  old  as  the  time  of  Orm,  the  last  of 
the  twelfth  or  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 


204       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

378.  The  possessive  pronouns  of  modern  English  are 
therefore  my^  mine;  archaic  thy,  thine;  our,  ours ;  your, 
yours;  his;  its;  her,  hers;  their,  theirs.  Of  these  the 
forms  used  absolutely  are  those  in  -n,  mine,  thine,  and  those 
in  -s,  oursy  yours,  his,  its,  hers,  theirs. 


The  Demonstrative  Pronouns 

379    There  were  two   demonstrative   pronouns   in   Old 
English  declined  as  follows  :  — 


Singular. 

Plural. 

Masc. 

Neut. 

Fern. 

(^All  Genders:) 

N. 

se,  se 

«aet 

seo 

N.A. 

«5 

G. 

«as 

"Ssere 

G. 

"Sara  ("Sgera) 

D. 

«£em 

^sere 

D.I. 

tSsem 

A. 

^one 

«set 

«a 

I. 

•Sy,  «on 

N. 

«es 

«is 

•Seos 

N.A. 

"Sas 

G. 

«ises 

«isse 

G. 

"Sissa 

D. 

^iosum,  "Sissum 

«isse 

D.I. 

^iosum,  ^issum 

A, 

■Siosne 

,  •Sisne 

«is 

«is 

I. 

«ys,  «is 

380.  The  first  of  these  was  used  as  a  definite  article  in 
Old  English.  Later,  the  s'e,  seo  forms  became  ^e  {deo),  by 
analogy  of  the  many  pronominal  forms  with  initial  cT.  In 
Middle  English,  the  form  de  {the)  remained  the  definite 
article,  singular  and  plural,  while  the  neuter  that  retained 
demonstrative  sense.  The  plural  of  that  was  supplied  by 
tho  (OE.  da)  until,  by  analogy  of  plurals  in  s,  it  became 
those  as  at  present.  The  neuter  of  the  second  demon- 
strative  accounts   for  Modern  English  this.     The  Middle 


THE  PRONOUN  205 

English  plural  of  this  was  at  first  thds{0'^.  'das),  but  two 
other  forms,  t/ii'se  and  thes,  were  also  used.  The  form  fhes 
became  Modern  English  these  by  regular  vowel  changes. 

381.  While  the  many  forms  of  these  two  Old  English 
demonstratives  have  been  reduced  to  the,  that,  this  and 
their  plurals,  some  traces  of  the  earlier  case  forms  remain  in 
stereotyped  expressions.  The  old  dative  is  found  in  the 
Shakespearean  'for  the  nonce'  (ME.  nones),  which  was 
originally  *  for  then  ones,'  then  being  the  OE.  ^'^in.  The 
dialectal  expression  *  the  tother '  is  for  '  that  other,'  with 
that  in  the  weaker  sense  of  the  article.  In  *  the  more,  the 
better '  and  similar  expressions,  the  is  an  Old  English  instru- 
mental {py,  ME.  the)  used  adverbially.  It  is  also  probable 
that  the  Old  English  dative  plural  occurs  in  the  dialectal 
*  them  books.'  Finally  the  ME.  thise,  plural  of  this,  remains 
in  such  expressions  as  ^  this  hundred  years,'  ^  this  twelve 
month.' 

382.  One  other  Old  English  demonstrative  is  sometimes 
found  in  older  literature  and  dialectally.  This  is  yon,  as  in 
yon  house.  While  not  common  as  a  demonstrative  in  the 
oldest  period,  it  is  not  infrequent  in  Middle  and  early 
Modern  English.  Compare  Shakespeare's  "  Nerissa,  cheer 
yon  stranger,"  Merchant  of  Venice,  III,  2,  240.  Besides, 
yonder  is  also  used  dialectally  with  demonstrative  force,  and 
this  is  more  or  less  directly  derived  from  the  older  y^«. 

383.  The  pronoun  of  identity  in  Old  English  was  ilea, 
now  preserved  only  in  the  Scotch  and  occasional  English 
ilk.  The  intensive  pronoun  corresponding  to  Latin  ipse,  is 
self,  OE.  seolf.  In  Old  English  this  followed  its  noun  or 
pronoun  and  was  inflected  like  an  adjective,  but  later  came 


206       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

to  be  attached  to  the  personal  pronouns  used  in  a  reflexive 
sense,  §  374.  6"^^  could  precede  a  noun  in  Old  English 
compounds,  as  in  self-ivill^  and  this  use  is  also  found  in 
Modern  English;  compare  Shakespeare's  self-affairs,  self- 
charityy  self-danger^  and  present  English  self-conceity  self- 
help.  In  Old  English  self  could  also  be  compounded  with 
adjectives,  and  there  are  still  many  words  made  up  in  this 
way,  as  selfsame^  self-acting.  In  Shakespeare  occur  numer- 
ous examples  oi self  2,%  a  noun,  'death's  second  self^  sonnet 
73,  *  Tarquin's  selfy    Coriolanus,  II,  2,  98, 

The  Interrogative  Pronouns 

384.   The  simple  interrogative  in  Old  English  had  bu* 
Wo  forms  for  gender  and  one  for  both  numbers  as  follows  :  — 


Masculine  —  Feminine, 

Neuter. 

N.        hwi 

hwaet 

G.         hwses 

hwses 

D.        hwsem,  hwam 

hwEem,  hwam 

A.         hwone 

hwaet 

I.         — 

hwy 

Three  of  these  forms  are  now  preserved  with  personal 
reference,  who,  {whose),  whom,  the  dative  having  become 
dative-accusative,  and  the  genitive  being  restricted  to  pos- 
sessive use  as  in  the  case  of  the  personal  pronouns. 

385.  The  confusion  of  ye,  you  in  the  Elizabethan  age, 
§  368,  had  its  counterpart  in  the  confusion  of  who  and  whom, 
so  that  the  former  was  frequently  used  for  the  latter  as  at 
present  in  the  colloquial  '  Who  did  you  see?'  Numerous 
examples  occur  in  Shakespeare,  as  "  Who  does  the  wolf 


THE  PRONOUN  207 

love?"  Coriolanus,  II,  i,  8;  "For  who  love  I  so  much?" 
Macbeth,  II,  6,  30;  "To  who?''  Othello,  I,  2,  52.  As  in 
Old  English,  the  interrogative  who  is  always  used  substan- 
tively. 

386.  The  Modern  English  what  is  still  neuter  when  used 
substantively.  Like  who,  it  was  used  only  as  a  substantive 
in  Old  EngHsh;  thus  hwcet  mqnna  'what  of  men/  was 
equivalent  to  *  what  sort  of  men.*  In  Middle  English  the 
syntactical  relation  of  this  genitive  was  lost  sight  of,  and 
what  became  an  adjective  pronoun  of  all  genders,  as  at 
present  in  what  mail,  what  house.  Whose  has  now  been 
restricted  to  personal  use.  Here  may  also  be  mentioned 
ihe  interrogative  adverb  why,  originally  an  instrumental  form 
of  the  interrogative  pronoun. 

387.  There  were  in  Old  English  two  other  interrogatives, 
which  have  become  modern  which  (OE.  hwelc,  hwilc  < 
*hwa-rtc  *who-like'),  and  whether  (OE.  hwceder)  'which 
of  two.*  The  pronoun  which,  like  what,  has  become  an 
adjective,  while  still  retaining  its  original  substantive  use. 
In  both  cases  it  is  invariable  in  form  for  gender,  number, 
and  case.  The  pronoun  whether  is  not  now  used,  although 
there  are  many  examples  of  it  in  the  older  modem  literature, 
as  in  "  Whether  of  them  twain  did  the  will  of  his  father  ?  " 
Matthew  21 :  31. 

The  Relative  Pronouns 

388.  In  Old  English  there  was  no  simple  relative  pro- 
noun, as  in  Latin,  for  example,  but  its  place  was  supplied  by 
the  demonstrative  se,  seo,  dcBt,  §  379,  by  the  relative  particle 
"de,  or  by  a  union  of  the  two  se  de,  etc.    Of  these  older  pro- 


208       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

nouns  only  the  relative  ihat^  the  neuter  of  the  older  demon- 
strative, remained  as  the  usual  relative  of  Middle  and  Early 
Modern  English.  In  later  times,  that  has  been  partly  sup- 
planted by  other  relatives  in  literature,  but  it  retains  its  older 
usage  colloquially,  conversation  seldom  employing  who^ 
which,  except  as  interrogatives  or  indefinites. 

389.  The  remaining  relatives  of  Modern  English,  who 
{what),  which,  spring  from  the  Old  Enghsh  interrogative- 
indefinites  hwa,  hwelc  {hwiic).  Which,  invariable  for  gen- 
der, number,  and  case,  began  to  be  used  relatively  in  early 
Middle  English  and  finally  became  fully  estabHshed  as  a 
relative  for  all  genders.  The  older  usage  in  reference  to 
persons  is  illustrated  by  the  Lord's  Prayer,  "Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven."  Later,  who  gradually  displaced  which 
in  reference  to  persons. 

390.  The  present  established  use  of  who  began  much 
later  than  that  of  which.  It  Is  true  that  there  are  occasional 
examples  of  who  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century,  but  it  was 
not  commonly  used  as  a  relative  until  the  sixteenth,  and 
not  fully  estabHshed  until  the  seventeenth  century.  Ben 
Jonson  in  his  English  Grammar  acknowledged  only  the 
relative  which,  although  who  was  beginning  to  be  used,  as 
shown  by  the  plays  of  Shakespeare.  Even  in  Addison's 
time,  who  had  not  become  common,  as  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  the  great  stylist  recommended  its  more  extensive 
use  in  the  Spectator  of  May  30,  1711. 

391.  For  a  time  after  who  took  its  place  as  a  relative 
beside  which,  both  were  used  indiscriminately  for  persons 
and  things,  as  often  in  Shakespeare.  Finally  which  was 
limited,  as  at  present,  to  references  other  than  to  persons, 


THE  PRONOUN  209 

and  who  was  employed  for  persons  only,  as  when  an  inter- 
rogative pronoun.  This  distinction  was  urged  in  the  Spec- 
tator mentioned  above,  where  it  was  proposed,  with  little 
deference  to  the  older  language,  to  change  the  first  clause 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  into  "Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven." 

392.  In  Middle  English,  when  who  was  beginning  to  be 
used  as  a  relative,  the  neuter  what  was  also  occasionally  so 
used.  For  example,  in  the  Ormulum  occurs  ''They  may 
show  you  all  what  it  saith  and  meaneth."  In  early  Modern 
English  also  a  similar  relative  use  of  what  is  occasionally 
found,  as  in  Henry  Vllly  V,  i,  125-6, 

"I  fear  nothing 
What  can  be  said  against  me." 

Such  expressions,  however,  are  considered  vulgarisms  at 
present,  so  that  what  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  relative  pro- 
noun in  standard  English.  The  common  explanation  of 
what  as  a  relative,  because  it  is  equivalent  to  that  which, 
depends  on  logical,  not  grammatical,  relations. 

393.  Whose  and  whom,  the  present  genitive  and  accusa- 
tive of  who,  spring  from  the  old  genitive  and  dative.  They 
were  also  common  before  the  nominative  7vho  had  estab- 
hshed  itself,  perhaps  because  they  belonged  originally  to 
what  as  well  as  to  who.  As  zvhich  was  more  frequent  than 
7vho  in  a  relative  sense,  whose  and  whom  became  attached 
to  which  when  referring  to  persons,  while  the  accusative 
which  was  restricted  to  the  neuter  gender.  This  use  is 
found  in  Orm  and  is  common  in  Chaucer.  At  the  same 
time,  of  which,  of  whotn  began  to  assume  some  of  the  func- 


210       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

tions  of  the  older  genitive,  and  whose  was  used  almost  ex- 
clusively in  a  possessive  sense. 

394.  Later,  when  who  came  into  general  use  as  a  relative, 
whose  and  whom,  by  reason  of  likeness  in  form  as  well 
as  through  the  influence  of  the  interrogative,  associated 
themselves  with  the  personal  relative.  The  genitive  whose 
was  then  restricted  to  personal  use,  although  whose  as  a 
neuter  genitive  is  sometimes  found  in  literature,  especially 
poetry.  As  in  the  case  of  the  interrogative,  there  has  been 
occasional  confusion  between  who  and  whom,  the  former 
being  sometimes  used  as  an  accusative  and  the  latter  more 
rarely  as  a  nominative.  Examples  are  common  in  Shake- 
speare, and  Milton  wrote  "  Beelzebub  .  .  .  than  whom, 
Satan  except,  none  higher  sat,"  Paradise  Lost,  II,  299-300. 
The  explanation  of  than  as  a  preposition  in  this  expression 
is  of  course  historically  inaccurate. 

The  Indefinite  Pronouns 

395.  The  indefinite  pronouns  are  so  named  because  they 
refer  to  general  and  usually  unexpressed  antecedents.  Like 
demonstratives,  they  may  be  employed  as  adjectives.  They 
are  derived  from  pronouns,  adjectives,  or  in  a  few  cases 
from  nouns.  In  Old  English  the  indefinites  were  numerous, 
and  to  these  there  have  been  some  additions  in  modern 
times.  Indeed,  any  adjective,  constantly  used  substantively, 
either  becomes  a  noun  or  partakes  of  the  nature  of  an  in- 
definite pronoun. 

396.  In  Old  English,  as  in  the  classical  languages,  the 
interrogative  pronouns  were  also  indefinites,  or  more  accu- 
rately, perhaps,  there  were  interrogative-indefinite  pronouns 


THE  PRONOUN  211 

of  the  same  form.  Who^  what,  and  which  retain  an  indefi- 
nite use  in  Modern  English.  A  good  example  of  who  as 
indefinite  is  Shakespeare's  ^^Who  steals  my  purse  steals 
trash,"  Othello,  III,  3,  157.  What,  the  old  neuter  of  who, 
is  more  frequently  indefinite,  as  in  '  what  you  say  is  true.' 
Which  is  less  frequently  indefinite,  but  is  certainly  so  in 
such  expressions  as  *  which  is  right,  is  uncertain.'  In  Old 
English  there  was  also  an  indefinite  whether  *  which  of  two/ 
but  it  is  no  longer  used. 

397.  Besides  these  simple  indefinites,  there  are  com- 
pounds, as  whoso,  whosoever,  whoever,  whatso,  whatsoever, 
whatever,  whichever,  etc.  These  have  their  correspondences 
in  Old  English  forms  with  swa  '  so '  before  as  well  as  after 
the  simple  indefinite,  as  swa-hwa-swa  *  whoso.'  In  Middle 
English  such  forms  lost  the  prefix  swa,  becoming  whoso, 
whatso,  etc.  In  the  same  period  they  were  sometimes 
strengthened  by  the  addition  of  ever,  making  whosoever,  etc., 
and  finally  whoever,  whatever,  whichever  were  also  formed. 
In  addition  there  occur  in  Shakespeare  and  in  present 
dialectal  EngHsh  such  forms  as  whosomever,  whatsotnever. 
Some  original  compounds  of  whether  have  been  greatly 
obscured  by  phonetic  changes  and  analogy,  as  either,  OE. 
aghwceder  {^gder),  and  neither,  apparently  a  new  formation 
by  analogy  of  either.  From  two  other  forms,  ahwceder  *  one 
of  two '  and  nahwceder,  its  corresponding  negative,  the 
Modern  English  conjunctions  or,  nor  are  derived. 

398.  The  indefinites  derived  from  adjectives  are  numer- 
ous. Of  Old  English  origin  are  so?ne,  OE.  sum;  such,  OE. 
swelc,  swilc ;  each,  OE.  '^Ic.  To  these  were  added  in  the 
Middle    English   period    other,  both,  many,  few,  little,  all. 


212       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

enough,  several,  certain.  All  these  are  from  Old  English 
adjectives  except  both,  originally  a  compound,  and  several, 
certain,  which  are  from  French.  So7ne  was  formerly  used 
as  a  pronoun  more  commonly  than  at  present,  and  still 
retains  pronominal  use  in  the  plural,  as  sotne  say,  *  he  went 
with  some  of  his  friends.'  Certain  had  a  similar  use  in 
Middle  and  early  Modern  English,  but  is  now  archaic  as  a 
pronoun.  Enough  is  pronominal  in  such  expressions  as 
*  enough  is  as  good  as  a  feast.* 

399.  These  simple  adjectival  pronouns  occur  in  com- 
pounds as  somebody,  something,  somewhat,  every,  another. 
Strictly  some  one,  one  another,  each  other  are  also  com- 
pounds, although  they  are  written  as  separate  words.  Here 
may  be  mentioned  the  indefinite  any,  derived  from  the  Old 
English  numeral  an  *  one.*  Of  later  pronominal  use  are 
one,  none,  in  '  one  said,' '  none  came.*  Compound  indefinites 
are  any  one,  anybody,  anything,  nobody,  nothing,  and  the 
tautological  no  one,  §  355.  The  indefinites  one,  other,  have 
assumed  inflected  forms  in  the  genitive  singular  and  in  the 
plural,  as  one'^s,  ones. 

400.  Some  of  the  compound  indefinites,  as  somebody, 
anything,  are  indefinite  phrases  made  up  of  an  adjective 
and  a  noun.  One  or  two  such  compounds  are  Old  English, 
as  aught,  naught  (OE.  awiht,  nawiht),  the  last  part  of  which 
is  the  noun  wight,  *  creature,'  *  thing.'  In  addition  to  these, 
Old  English  used  man  as  an  indefinite,  like  German  man 
in  man  sagt  *  one  says,'  *  they  say.'  This  is  preserved  in  the 
plural,  as  men  say,  and  sometimes  in  the  singular  with  an 
article  as  in  "  Misery  acquaints  a  man  with  strange  bed- 
fellows," Tempest,  II,  2,  41. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE  VERB 

401.  Certain  prominent  characteristics  of  the  Teutonic 
verb  have  been  mentioned  in  §  36.  In  general,  the  Old 
English  verb  conformed  to  all  these  simple  characteristics. 
It  had  a  single  inflected  voice ;  two  tenses ;  two  complete 
modes  besides  an  imperative  in  the  present  tense  only ;  two 
numbers  ;  an  infinitive,  and  two  verbal  adjectives,  the  present 
and  perfect  participles.  The  changes  in  the  verb  since  Old 
English  times  have  been  of  two  kinds,  one  toward  simphcity, 
and  the  other  toward  complexity.  The  first  is  shown  in  the 
loss  of  inflections,  the  second  in  the  building  up  of  the  com- 
pound forms.  These  will  receive  proper  attention  in  detail. 
Especially  important  in  the  history  of  the  Enghsh  verb  are 
those  forms  which  have  come  down  from  the  earliest  time, 
together  with  the  changes  which  they  have  undergone. 

402.  The  Old  English  verb  comprised  two  principal 
groups,  the  strong  and  the  weak  (see  foot-note  to  page 
172).  The  strong  verb,  including  some  with  reduplicated 
preterits,  distinguished  its  preterit  tense  by  a  different  vowel 
from  the  present.  The  weak  verb  distinguished  the  same 
form  by  a  verbal  suffix,  the  antecedent  of  the  present  -ed, 
-d  {().  The  strong  class  was  the  smaller  of  the  two,  even  in 
Old  Enghsh,  and  has  since  been  constantly  decreasing  in 

213 


214       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

number.  The  weak  class,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  con- 
stantly on  the  increase,  since  new  verbs  and  those  borrowed 
from  foreign  languages  have  usually  been  formed  on  the 
model  of  the  weak  verb. 

403.  The  terms  strong  and  weak,  applied  to  verbs  as  to 
nouns  and  adjectives,  might  be  thought  to  indicate  the 
larger  and  smaller  classes  respectively.  .  This  is  not  strictly 
true.  In  the  case  of  nouns  and  adjectives,  for  example,  the 
strong  forms  were  more  numerous  or  were  more  frequently 
used,  and  have  therefore  become  the  predominant  forms  in 
the  history  of  English.  In  the  case  of  verbs,  the  weak  forms 
have  always  been  the  most  numerous,  and  therefore  have 
naturally  gained  the  advantage  over  the  others.  For  this 
reason  the  weak  verb  will  be  treated  first. 

The  Weak  Verb 

404.  The  weak  verb  in  the  Teutonic  languages  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  dental  preterit,  as  it  is  called ;  that  is,  by 
a  preterit  ending  containing  a  dental  consonant,  the  -ed, 
-d{t)  of  Modern  English.  Of  the  origin  of  this  dental 
preterit  and  the  manner  in  which  it  came  into  use,  little  is 
certainly  known.  An  older  theory  regarded  it  as  developed 
from  the  root  of  the  verb  do.  Such  a  form  as  loved,  for 
example,  was  supposed  to  be  equivalent  to  love  +  did.  This  1 
theory,  however,  is  not  so  commonly  believed  as  of  old,  ' 
although  scholars  are  still  not  agreed  as  to  the  exact  origin 
of  the  dental  suffix.  It  is  at  least  certain  that  the  dental 
preterit  originated  in  an  Indo-European  suffix,  and  has 
become  thus  specialized  only  in  the  Teutonic  tongues. 


THE    VERB  1\\ 

405.  Weak  verbs  in  Modern  English  are  usually  regarded 
as  belonging  to  one  large  class.  They  are  described  by 
modern  grammarians  as  forming  preterit  and  perfect  parti- 
ciple by  adding  -ed  or  -d  to  the  verbal  root.  This  general 
statement,  however,  is  far  from  accurate,  as  may  be  shown 
by  numerous  examples.  For  instance,  the  weak  verb  have 
—  had  does  not  exactly  come  under  this  form  of  statement, 
while  feed — fed^  cut — cut,  do  not  add  -ed  or  -d  to  any  ot 
their  forms.  The  verb  feed  shows  change  of  vowel  in  pre- 
terit and  participle,  although  it  is  not  a  strong  verb,  and  cut 
is  invariable  in  its  principal  parts.  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  weak  verbs  have  certain  irregularities  requiring  to  be 
examined  and  described.  To  understand  these  peculiari- 
ties it  is  necessary,  as  in  the  case  of  nouns  and  adjectives, 
to  go  back  to  Old  English  forms. 

406.  Old  English  weak  verbs  were  of  three  classes  ac- 
cording to  formation  and  conjugation.  Verbs  of  the  first 
class  formed  their  preterits  and  past  participles  by  adding  to 
the  present  stem  the  suffixes  -ede{de,  te)  and  -<?^  respec- 
tively. Those  of  the  second  class  added  the  suffixes  -ode  for 
the  preterit  and  -od  for  the  participle.  Those  of  the  third 
class  were  few  in  number  and,  though  differing  in  some 
other  particulars,  agreed  with  some  verbs  of  the  first  class 
in  adding  -de  for  the  preterit  and  -ed  for  the  participle. 
Examples  of  verbs  of  the  first  class  with  -ede{de)  in  the 
preterit  are  OE.  dynnan  —  dynede — gedytied,'^  'din';  de- 
f/ian  —  demde — gedemed,  'deem';  with  -te  after  breath 
consonants,  settan  —  sette — gesetted,  'set';  dyppan  —  dypte 

1  The  prefix  -ge  was  added  to  the  past  participles  of  uncompounded 
verbs,  though  often  omitted,  especially  in  the  case  of  strong  verbs. 


216       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

—  S^^yPP^^i  'dip.'     An  example  of  a  verb  of  the   second 
class  is  locian  —  Be  ode — gelocod^  'look.' 

407.  By  regular  phonetic  changes  in  late  Old  and  early 
Middle  English  tinnes,  the  endings  of  verbs  of  the  second 
class  became  -ede  for  the  preterit  and  -ed  for  the  participle, 
so  that  they  were  exactly  like  certain  verbs  of  the  first  class. 
In  early  Middle  English,  therefore,  weak  verbs  constituted 
two  classes,  the  first  having  the  ending  -ede^  the  second 
-de{te)  in  the  preterit.  The  participles  of  both  classes 
ended  in  -ed.  During  Middle  English  most  verbs  of  the 
first  of  these  classes  lost  the  connecting  vowel  e  in  the 
preterit  -ede  ending,  and  thus  became  like  verbs  of  the  sec- 
ond class.  Later  in  the  same  period,  final  ^  of  the  preterit 
was  also  lost,  and  e  of  the  participial  -ed  was  usually  synco- 
pated, the  longer  form  remaining  only  in  poetry  and  some- 
times in  adjectives  derived  from  participles.  At  the  same 
time,  d  of  the  past  participle  in  most  verbs  ending  in  a 
breath  consonant  became  /,  so  that  preterit  and  participle 
thus  became  one  in  form. 

408.  Owing  to  these  changes,  regular  weak  verbs  in 
Modern  English  are  invariable  in  preterit  and  participle, 
the  three  stems  of  Old  English  having  become  two.  They 
form  their  preterit-participle  by  adding  the  suffix  -d^  if 
ending  in  a  vowel  or  voice  consonant,  or  -/  if  ending  in 
a  breath  consonant.  In  either  case  the  suffix  is  usually 
written  -ed,  as  in  loved,  dipped.  Besides  such  regular  weak 
verbs,  there  are  in  Modern  English  several  minor  classes 
which  are  more  or  less  irregular.  These  usually  depend 
upon  irregularities  of  development  which  require  explana- 
tion in  detail. 


THE  VERB  217 

Irregular  Weak  Verbs 

409.  While  the  syncopation  of  e  in  the  participial  suffix 
-ed  took  place  with  great  regularity,  it  was  resisted  in  many 
verbs  ending  in  ^  or  /.  Later,  these  participial  forms  with 
syllabic  -ed  were  introduced  into  the  preterits,  so  that  most 
verbs  ending  in  ^  or  /  form  the  preterit-participle  in  syllabic 
-ed,  as  bode  —  boded,  greet — greeted.  To  this  class  belong, 
not  only  verbs  from  Old  English,  but  all  verbs  of  late  forma- 
tion if  ending  in  d  or  /,  as  well  as  most  borrowed  verbs  of 
the  same  sort. 

410.  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  small  number  of  verbs  end- 
ing in  d  or  /,  the  Middle  English  preterits  ending  in  -de{te) 
replaced  the  participles  in  -ed.  Then,  by  the  loss  of  final  e, 
these  preterit-participles  became  like  the  presents,  except 
for  shortening  of  a  long  vowel  which  had  sometimes  taken 
place.  Some  of  these  verbs,  therefore,  show  a  different 
vowel  in  the  present  and  preterit-participle,  while  others  are 
invariable  in  form.  They  are  still  weak  verbs,  however, 
although  sometimes  incorrectly  classed  as  strong  verbs. 

411.  Irregular  weak  verbs  of  this  sort  ending  in  d  are, 

bleed  —  bled  lead  —  led  shred  —  shred 

breed  —  bred  read  —  read  speed  —  sped 

feed  —  fed  rid  —  rid  spread  —  spread 

hide  —  hid  shed  —  shed  wed  —  wed 

Of  these,  hide  has  also  a  participle  hidden  by  analogy  of 
strong  verbs.  By  analogy  of  verbs  of  this  class,  plead,  a 
word  borrowed  from  French,  has  a  preterit-participle  with 
short  vowel,  beside  one  with  syllabic  -ed.  Shred,  speed,  and 
wed  also  have  forms  corresponding  to  verbs  in  §  409. 


218       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 
412.    Irregular  weak  verbs  ending  in  /  are, 


bet  — bet 

light  —  lit  ♦ 

make  light 

'        slit  — slit 

cast  —  cast 

light  — lit' 

alight ' 

spit  — spit,  §431 

CO  jt  —  cost 

meet  —  met 

split  —  split 

cut  —  cut 

put  —  put 

sweat  —  sw^at 

hit  — hit 

quit  —  quit 

thrust  —  thrust 

hurt  —  hurt 

set— set 

wet  —  wet 

knit  —  knit 

shut  —  shut 

whet  —  whet 

Most  of  these  are  from  Old  English  or  Norse,  but  cut  is  of 
uncertain  origin,  and  bet^  cost,  quit  are  from  Old  French. 
Some  have  regular  forms  in  -ed  as  bet,  knit,  light  'make 
light,'  light '  alight,'  quit,  slit,  split,  sweat,  wet,  whet.  Wont 
'accustomed,'  itself  a  perfect  participle  from  ME.  woned, 
was  formerly  made  into  an  invariable  verb,  while  it  had  also 
the  double  preteritive  form  wonted.  The  latter  is  still  used 
as  an  adjective.  In  early  Modern  English  and  dialectally 
heat — heat  {het)  occurs,  as  in  King  John  IV,  I,  61. 

413.  Weak  verbs  ending  in  a  breath  consonant  have 
always  added  -/  in  the  preterit,  §  406,  although  this  fact  is 
often  obscured  by  the  spelling  -ed.  Some  verbs  have  kept 
this  original  -t,  but  also  show  shortening  of  the  root  vowel, 
as  creep,  keep,  leap,  sleep,  sweep,  weep,  cleave,  leave,  reave 
{bereave),  and  lose.  Leap  and  bereave  have  regular  forms 
with  unchanged  vowels.  Some  verbs  have  -/  in  preterit  and 
past  participle  by  change  of  an  original  -d.     They  are, 

bend  —  bent  feel  —  felt  mean  —  meant 

blend  —  blent  gild — gilt  rend  —  rent 

build  —  built  gird  —  girt  send — sent 

burn  —  burnt  kneel  —  knelt  smell  —  smelt 

deal  —  dealt  lean  —  leant  spell  —  spelt 

dream  —  dreamt  learn  —  learnt  spend  —  spent 

dwell  —  dwelt  lend  —  lent  spoil  —  spoilt 


THE   VERB  219 

Of  these  deal,  dwell,  feel,  lend,  mean,  send,  spend  have  i 
forms  only,  while  the  others  have  also  forms  in  -d  or  syllabic 
-ed.  Went,  originally  preterit  of  wend,  but  now  used  exclu- 
sively as  preterit  of  ^^,  shows  a  similar  change. 

414.  A  few  important  verbs  were  somewhat  irregular  in 
Old  English  and  have  remained  so  to  the  present  time. 
The  principal  irregularity  is  due  to  mutation  of  the  present 
stem,  so  that  present  and  preterit-participle  appear  with 
different  vowels.     Here  belong, 

bring  —  brought  teach  —  taught 

buy  —  bought  tell  —  told 

(be)seech  —  (be)sought  think  —  thought '  think  * 

seek  —  sought  think  —  thought '  seem  * 

sell  —  sold  work  —  (wrought) 

The  verbs  reach  and  stretch  once  belonged  here,  but  are 
now  regular,  as  is  work  more  commonly.  Three  verbs 
from  foreign  sources  were  influenced  by  this  small  group, 
so  that  they  have  taken  analogous  forms  in  preterit-parti- 
ciple. They  are  catch  —  caught,  distract  —  distraught, 
freight — fraught.  In  the  case  of  the  last  two,  regular 
forms,  distracted,  freighted,  have  replaced  the  earlier  dis- 
traught, fraught,  except  as  the  latter  are  used  as  adjectives. 

415.  A  few  other  verbs  show  vowel  shortening  in  the 
preterit,  although  otherwise  regular.  They  are  flee — fied  ; 
say  —  said;  shoe — shod;  hear — heard.  Three  weak  verbs 
are  slightly  irregular  in  other  ways.  In  have  —  had,  make  — 
made,  the  final  consonant  of  the  root  has  been  lost  in  pre- 
terit and  participle.  The  verb  clothe  has  an  irregular  pre- 
terit clad  beside  the  regular  form  clothed.  The  irregulai 
form  is  perhaps  a  borrowing  from  Norse. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE  VERB  (Continued) 

416.  In  the  preceding  chapter  the  forms  of  the  majority 
of  English  verbs  have  been  discussed  ;  that  is,  those  belong- 
ing to  the  so-called  weak  class.  There  remain  to  be  consid- 
ered the  interesting  class  of  strong  verbs,  together  with  a 
few  relics  of  an  Indo-European  group  with  the  suffix  -mi  in 
the  present  indicative  first  singular.  These,  though  not 
nearly  so  numerous  as  those  of  the  weak  class,  include  some 
of  the  most  common  verbs,  and  those  which  have  suffered 
many  changes.  They  therefore  require  to  be  treated  in 
detail. 

The  Strong  Verb 

417.  The  Old  English  strong  verb  consisted  of  two 
groups,  those  which  distinguished  their  preterits  by  different 
vowels  from  the  presents,  and  those  which  once  had 
reduplicated  preterits.  The  latter  also  had  different  vowels 
in  present  and  preterit,  but  this  was  not  their  most  char- 
acteristic feature.  To  the  first  group  belonged  six  classes, 
distinguished  by  the  vowels  of  four  stems,  —  the  present,  the 
preterit  singular,  the  preterit  plural,  and  the  past  participle. 
The  vowels  of  the  four  stems  in  the  different  classes  may 
be  seen  from  the  following  table.  Vowel  variations  in  any 
stem  are  due  to  special  Old  Enghsh  changes. 


THE   VERB 

2 

Class 

Present 

Pret.  Sg. 

Pret.  Pl. 

Participle 

I 

i 

a 

i 

i 

II 

eo(S) 

ea 

u 

o 

III 

i,  e,  eo 

a(o),  ea 

u 

u,  o 

IV 

e 

ae 

se 

o 

V 

e(i,ie) 

36 

§e 

e 

VI 

a 

o 

5 

a 

221 


The  reduplicating  verbs  differed  from  these  in  having  the 
same  vowel  in  present  and  participle  on  the  one  side,  and 
in  preterit  singular  and  plural  on  the  other. 

418.  The  strong  verbs  have  been  much  influenced  by 
analogy.  In  the  first  place,  their  number  has  been  greatly 
reduced.  In  Old  English  there  were  about  three  hundred 
strong  verbs.  As  this  number  was  small  compared  with  the 
number  of  weak  verbs,  the  latter  naturally  influenced  the 
former.  So  great  was  this  influence  that  less  than  one  hun- 
dred of  the  strong  verbs  remain  in  Modern  English.  In  the 
second  place,  the  number  of  stems  in  strong  verbs  has  been 
reduced  from  four  to  three,  and  in  some  cases  to  two.  This 
was  also  due  to  the  influence  of  the  weak  verbs.  Sometimes 
the  preterit  and  past  participle  came  to  agree  in  form,  and 
thus  the  three  stems  were  reduced  to  two.  The  influence  of 
analogy  may  also  be  seen  in  some  other  particulars, 
although  in  general  verbs  preserved  to  modern  times  have 
followed  the  regular  phonetic  changes  of  their  characteristic 
vowels. 

Verbs  of  Class  I 

419.  Most  verbs  of  this  class  have  preserved  the  vowel 
of  the  preterit  singular.     They  are, 


222       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

(a)  bide  —  (a)  bode  —  (a)  bode  shrive  —  shrove  —  shriven 

drive  —  drove  —  driven  smite  —  smote  —  smitten 

ride  —  rode  —  ridden  stride  —  strode  —  stridden 

rise  —  rose  —  risen  write  —  wrote  —  written 
shine  —  shone  —  shone 

To  these  must  be  added  thrive  —  throve — thriven  from 
Norse,  and  strive — strove — striven  from  French,  both  ol 
which  took  strong  forms  by  analogy.  The  verb  rive,  also 
from  Norse,  has  the  participle  riven,  but  is  otherwise  weak. 
Two  other  verbs  of  Class  I  agree  in  having  preserved  the 
vowel  of  the  preterit  plural.  They  are,  dite — bit — bitten 
{bit)  2xA  slide — slid — slidden  {slid). 

420.  The  verb  strike — struck — struck  {stricken),  origi- 
nally of  Class  I  has  apparently  been  influenced  by  verbs  of 
Class  III,  although  the  archaic  participle  stricken  of  Class  I 
was  used  in  early  Modern  English.  Two  weak  verbs,  chide^ 
and  cleave  'adhere,*  assumed  strong  preterits  in  Middle 
English,  but  these  have  been  lost  in  modern  times.  The 
first,  chode,  occurs  in  Genesis  31  :  36,  and  the  second, 
clave,  by  confusion  with  the  preterit  of  cleave  'spHt'  §  423, 
in  Genesis  34 :  3.  Chide  and  another  weak  verb,  hide, 
have  assumed  strong  participles,  chidden,  hidden,  by  analogy 
of  verbs  of  this  class.  A  dialectal  dive — dove — dove  has 
also  been  influenced  by  verbs  of  Class  I. 

421.  Strong  verbs  of  Class  I  show  various  effects  of 
analogy  in  their  history.  The  verbs  abide  and  shine  have 
perfect  participles  like  the  preterits,  the  older  forms  in 
short  /  having  disappeared.  On  the  other  hand,  abide,  ride, 
write  had  older  preterits,  abid,  rid,  writ,  with  the  vowel  of 
the  participle.      By  analogy  also,  some  verbs  of  this  first 


THE   VERB  111 

class  have  assumed  weak  forms,  and  others  have  become 
wholly  weak.  Thus,  shine ^  shrive,  thrive  have  weak  forms 
more  or  less  commonly  used,  and  glide,  g^ip^,  sigh,  slit,  spew, 
twit  (OE.  cet-witan),  writhe,  whine  are  always  weaL 

,  Class  II 

422.  The  verbs  of  this  class  which  have  remained  strong 

are  as  follows  :  — 

choose  —  chose  —  chosen  freeze  —  froze  —  frozen 

cleave  *  split '  —  clove  —  cloven  seethe  —  sod  —  sodden 

fly  —  flew  —  flown  shoot  —  shot  —  shot 

423.  These  verbs  show  great  irregularities.  For  example, 
the  preterit  stem  has  apparently  been  influenced  in  most 
cases  by  the  participle,  and  only  cleave,  freeze,  seethe  show 
regular  developments  in  the  present  from  OE.  forms.  Be- 
sides, chosen  and  frozen  have  z  (j)  instead  of  r  as  in  Old 
English.  The  verb  seethe  is  interesting  as  the  only  one 
which  still  preserves  a  consonantal  change,  as  of  th  >  d, 
which  was  found  in  many  preterits  and  participles  in  Teu- 
tonic. By  confusion  with  a  weak  verb  cleave  *  adhere,' 
cleave  '  split '  often  takes  cleft  for  preterit  and  participle. 
Both  cleave  and  seethe  also  have  weak  forms.  The  remain- 
ing verbs  once  belonging  here  have  become  weak  so  far  as 
they  have  been  preserved.  They  appear  with  different 
vowels  in  the  present,  as  creep,  flee,  reek;  brew,  chew,  rue; 
boWy  sprout,  crowd;  and  suck,  sup,  shove. 

Class  III 

424.  The  verbs  of  this  class  belonged  to  several  well- 
marked  subdivisions  in  Old  English,  according  as  their  root 


224       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

vowels  were  followed  by  various  consonant  combinations. 
In  general,  the  verbs  of  only  one  of  these  sub-classes  have 
remained  strong  in  Modern  English,  those  in  which  the 
vowel  was  originally  followed  by  a  nasal  and  a  consonant. 
They  may  be  separated  into  three  groups,  owing  to  differ- 
ences arising  through  phonetic  changes  or  analogy. 

425.  The  first  group  includes  verbs  with  the  diphthongs 
ai  (written  /)  in  the  present  stem,  and  au  (written  ou)  in 
preterit  and  participle.     Here  belong, 

bind  —  bound  —  bound  grind  —  ground  —  ground 

find  —  found  —  found  wind  —  wound  —  wound 

The  verb  climbs  now  usually  weak,  has  strong  forms  dia- 
lectally,  as  domb  and  climb.  In  all  verbs  of  this  group  the 
original  short  vowels  of  present  and  preterit  plural  were  first 
lengthened  and  then  became  diphthongs. 

426.  The  second  group  includes  verbs  that  have  preterits 
with  the  vowel  of  man,  from  the  vowel  of  the  original  pre- 
terit singular,  as 

drink  —  drank  —  drunk  sink  —  sank  —  sunk 

(be)gin —  (be)gan —  (be)gun  spring  —  sprang — sprung 

shrink  —  shrank  —  shrunk  swim  —  swam  —  swum 
sing — sang  —  sung 

To  these  maybe  added  ring — rang — rung,  from  a  verb 
originally  weak,  the  archaic  and  defective  gin — gan,  and 
run — ran  — run  with  an  irregular  present.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century  most  verbs  of  this  group  had  preterits  with  u, 
as  drunk,  and  these  sometimes  occur  to-day  colloquially  as 
well  as  in  poetry.     Occasionally,  two  preterits  are  used  in 


THE  VERB  225 

different  expressions,  as  'John  shrank  away/  but  'the  cloth 
shrunk.^ 

427.  Verbs  of  the  third  group  have  preterits  with  the 
vowel  of  but,  from  the  vowel  of  the  original  preterit  plural. 
They  are, 

cling  —  clung  —  clung  sting  —  stung  —  stung 

sling  —  slung  —  slung  swing  —  swung — swung 

slink  —  slunk  —  slunk  win  —  won  —  won 

spin  —  spun  —  spun  wring  —  wrung  —  wrung 
stink  —  stunk  —  stunk 

To  this  class  belong  fling — flung — flung  from  the  Norse, 
and  string — strung — strung,  which  was  formed  in  early 
Modern  English  from  the  substantive  string.  By  analogy 
of  the  verbs  above,  dig  has  also  assumed  a  preterit  and 
participle  in  u,  as  dug,  beside  weak  forms.  This  formation 
is  late,  since  only  weak  forms  occur  in  the  Bible  and 
Shakespeare.  For  stick  —  stuck  —  stuck,  see  §  429.  Orig- 
inally burn  belonged  to  this  class,  but  is  now  weak,  as  are 
cringe  and  ding,  the  latter  not  found  in  Old  English.  Here 
belongs  also  the  poetic  and  archaic  swink  '  to  labour,'  which 
had  weak  forms  as  well  as  strong.  Several  of  these  verbs 
have  archaic  forms  with  a  in  the  preterit. 

428.  The  remaining  verbs  of  Class  III  have  become 
weak  so  far  as  preserved,  with  two  exceptions,  flgkt — 
fought — fought  and  burst — burst — burst.  The  latter 
might  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  weak  verb  like  cast,  cut, 
but  it  was  originally  strong  and  it  has  never  had  a  dental 
preterit  except  in  such  dialectal  forms  as  bursted  {busted^ . 
Molten  and  swollen,  the  old  participles  of  melt  and  swell, 
are  now  used  rather  as  adjectives  than  as  participles,  and 

Q 


226       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

holpen^  archaic  participle  of  help,  is  no  longer  found  except 
dialectally.  The  defective  verb  worth  '  become  '  belonged 
here  originally,  but  is  now  found  only  in  such  expressions  as 
*  woe  worth  the  day.' 

Class  IV 

429.  Few  verbs  belonged  to  this  class  in  Old  English 
and  still  fewer  have  come  down  to  modern  times.  Those 
preserved  are, 

bear  —  bore  —  borne  steal  —  stole  —  stolen 

break  —  broke  —  broken  tear  —  tore  —  torn 

shear  —  (shore)  —  shorn 

Quite  irregular  is  come  —  came  —  come,  from  forms  that 
were  also  somewhat  irregular  in  Old  English.  To  this  class 
originally  belonged  stecan  '  pierce,'  beside  which  there  was 
a  weak  verb  stician  '  pierce,  adhere.'  These  were  confused, 
and  now  appear  as  stick  —  stuck  —  stuck,  with  both  mean- 
ings. The  preterit  and  participle  have  been  influenced  by 
the  verbs  of  Class  III,  although  a  weak  preterit,  sticked, 
existed  in  early  Modern  English,  and  is  now  found  in 
dialects.  By  analogy  also,  wear,  which  was  originally  weak, 
has  become  strong,  while  shear  often  has  weak  forms. 

Class  V 

430.  Verbs  of  this  class  show  considerable  irregularity, 
owing  to  vowel  changes  and  analogy.  Those  that  have 
been  preserved  may  be  divided  into  two  groups,  according 
as  they  have  kept  the  old  preterit  form,  or  have  been  influ- 
enced by  verbs  of  Class  IV.     To  the  first  group  belong, 


THE  VERB  22? 

bid  —  bade  —  bidden  lie  —  lay  —  lain 

eat  —  ate  —  eaten  see  —  saw  —  seen 

give  —  gave  —  given  sit  —  sat  —  sat 

431.  The  verb  bid  with  its  compound  forbid  requires  a 
word  of  explanation.  There  were  two  strong  verbs  in  Old 
English  having  some  Hkeness  in  form,  biddan  '  pray,  ask,'  of 
this  class,  and  beodan  'offer,  command,'  of  Class  II.  In 
the  course  of  their  development  these  were  much  confused 
and  bid —  bade  assumed  the  meaning  '  command '  along 
with  its  older  meaning  'ask,  invite,'  the  last  belonging 
especially  to  the  participle  bidden.  Beside  this,  there  is 
also  an  invariable  verb  bid  with  the  meanings  '  offer '  and 
earlier  '  pray.'  The  verb  spit^  which  earlier  had  a  preterit 
ji/«/ associating  it  with  these  verbs,  is  now  invariable,  §  412. 
The  older  forms  were  probably  due  to  mixture  of  two  weak 
verbs  spittan  and  spatan  with  the  same  meaning. 

432.  The  second  group  includes, 

get  —  got  —  got  (gotten)  tread  —  trod  —  trodden 

speak  —  spoke  —  spoken  weave  —  wove  —  woven 

The  verbs  of  this  group  all  show  preterits  and  participles 
which  have  been  influenced  by  those  of  Class  IV,  with 
which,  a3  far  as  Modern  English  is  concerned,  they  might 
be  associated.  The  form  gotten  beside  got  is  a  late  develop- 
ment, by  analogy  of  participles  in  -en.  The  verbs  get,  give, 
included  in  this  class,  do  not  properly  spring  from  OE. 
gietan,  giefan^  since  the  latter  should  now  have  initial  y. 
The  forms  with  hard  g  have  probably  been  due  to  the  corre- 
sponding Norse  verbs,  which  have  influenced  or  supplanted 


228       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

the  others.  An  old  preterit  quoth  is  all  that  now  remains  of 
an  Old  English  verb  cwedan  belonging  to  Class  V,  its  com- 
pound bequeath  being  wholly  weak.  Other  verbs  of  this 
class  that  have  become  weak  are  knead,  mete,  play. 

Class  VI 

433.  The  verbs  of  this  class  were  few  in  number  in  Old 
English  and  still  fewer  are  now  strong.  The  most  regular 
are, 

heave  —  hove  —  hove  swear  —  swore  —  sworn 

(for-)sake  —  sook  —  saken  wake  —  woke  —  (waked) 

shake  —  shook  —  shaken  (a-)  wake  —  woke  —  (waked) 
stand  —  stood  —  stood 

In  these  verbs  the  participles  hove,  stood,  and  sworn,  have 
been  influenced  by  the  vowels  of  the  preterits,  or  by  verbs 
of  Class  IV,  and  the  vowels  of  the  presents,  swear,  heave, 
are  due  to  mutation.  The  present  stand  differs  from  its 
other  forms  by  reason  of  an  n  which  belonged  only  to  the 
present  and  participle  even  in  Old  English.  Two  verbs, 
draw  —  drew  —  drawn  and  slay  —  slew  —  slain,  also  be> 
longing  here,  have  peculiar  forms  due  to  contraction. 

434.  This  class  now  includes  take  —  took  —  taken,  which 
once  belonged  to  the  corresponding  class  in  Norse  and  so 
easily  associated  itself  with  these  verbs.  Another  verb, 
stave  —  stove  —  stove,  was  formed  from  a  substantive  in 
early  Modern  English,  while  reeve  —  rove  —  rove,  a  nautical 
term,  is  perhaps  from  Dutch,  with  strong  forms  by  analogy. 
As  in  the  other  classes,  several  verbs  originally  belonging  to 
Class  VI  have  become  weak,  although  some  of  them  have 
old  participles  in  -en.     They  are  ache,  bake,  gnaw,  grave, 


THE  VERB  ll") 

lade,  shape,  shave,  wade,  wax.  The  old  participles,  now 
used  only  as  adjectives  however,  are  gnawn,  graven,  laden, 
shapen,  shaven. 

Verbs  with  Original  Reduplication 

435.  The  reduplicating  verbs  are  interesting  as  forming  a 
connecting  link  between  the  Teutonic  languages  and  Greek 
and  Latin,  which  also  had  reduplicated  perfects.  Yet  actual 
reduplication  was  preserved  only  in  Gothic,  although  all  Teu- 
tonic languages  show  certain  peculiar  forms  resulting  from 
it.  Old  English  reduplicating  verbs  formed  two  classes  by 
reason  of  different  vowels  in  the  preterit.  They  differed  in 
another  respect  from  most  strong  verbs,  since  their  four 
principal  stems  had  but  two  different  vowels,  those  of  the 
present  and  participle  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of  the 
preterit  singular  and  plural  on  the  other  being  the  same. 
Most  of  the  Modern  English  verbs  have  three  forms,  how- 
ever, owing  to  preservation  of  the  participle  in  -en. 

436.  The  reduplicating  verbs  which  have  remained  strong 
are  as  follows : 

beat  —  beat — beaten  (beat)  hold — held  —  held 

blow  —  blew  —  blown  know  —  knew  —  known 

fall  —  fell  —  fallen  let — let  —  let  *  allow ' 

grow  —  grew  —  grown  throw  —  threw  —  thrown 

Of  these,  hold  has  its  participle  by  analogy  of  the  preterit, 
holden  {beholden^  being  archaic.  Let  *  allow*  has  become 
invariable  by  shortening  of  the  present  and  preterit  vowels. 
From  it  must  be  distinguished  the  older  let '  hinder,'  origi- 
nally a  weak  verb.      The  verb  crow,  now  weak,  had  an 


230       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

early  Modern  English  preterit  crew.  Hew,  mow,  sow  have 
weak  preterits,  but  retain  the  strong  participles  hewn,  mown, 
sown  beside  weak  forms. 

437.  Sometimes  hang  is  said  to  belong  here,  but  this  is 
only  partly  true.  There  were  in  Old  English  a  reduplicat- 
ing verb  hon  —  heng — hongen  'hang,'  and  a  weak  verb 
hangian,  with  similar  meaning.  In  Middle  English  these 
were  confused,  so  that  the  present  hang  is  now  associated 
with  a  strong  preterit  and  participle  hung  and  a  weak  hanged. 
The  form  hung  <  heng  has  been  influenced  by  verbs  of  Class 
III.  Most  of  the  other  reduplicating  verbs  have  become 
weak,  as  blend,  claw,  dread,  flow,  fold,  glow,  leap,  low,  row, 
salt,  sleep,  swoop,  weep,  wheeze,  wield. 

Preteritive  Presents 

438.  The  preterits  of  certain  verbs  in  Teutonic,  as  in 
other  languages,  have  assumed  a  present  meaning,  after 
which  the  original  presents  were  usually  lost.  Examples  in 
English  are  may,  can,  shall;  in  Latin  novi  '  I  know,'  memini 
*  I  remember.'  Such  verbs,  called  preteritive  presents,  de- 
veloped in  Teutonic  a  new  weak  preterit,  together  with  a 
new  infinitive  usually  from  the  stem  of  the  preterit  plural. 
The  preteritive  presents  in  the  Teutonic  languages  were 
all  originally  strong  verbs,  so  that  their  presents  are  inflected 
Hke  strong  verbs,  their  preterits  like  weak  verbs. 

439.  The  somewhat  numerous  forms  of  the  older  pre- 
teritive presents  have  been  greatly  reduced  in  number.  So 
far  as  preserved,  they  appear  in  the  following  table,  under 
the  various  classes  of  strong  verbs  : 


THE 

VERB 

Class 

Infinitive 

Present 

Preterit 

I 

wit 

wot 

wist 
ought 

III 

can 
dare 

could 
durst 

IV 

shall 

should 

V 

* 

may 

might 

VI 

mote 

must 

231 


440.  The  infinitive  of  the  first  verb  remains  in  the  ex- 
pression to  wit.  It  appears  as  a  verb  in  the  King  James 
version  of  the  Bible  2  Cor.  8  :  i,  *we  do  (make)  you  to  wit 
(know),'  and  in  Shakespeare,  Pericles  iv.  4,  31.  Shake- 
speare also  used  the  analogical  forms  wot'st,  wots,  woting, 
and  the  plural  wot.  An  irregular  OE.  participle  gewiss 
(Ger.  gewiss)  *  certain '  became  ME.  iwisj  and  later  was 
supposed  to  be  a  verb  and  pronoun,  /  wis,  as  if  present  to 
wiste,  §  109.  Compare  Coleridge's  *  Fearfully  dreaming 
yet  /  wis,'  and  Browning's  *  Howe'er  you  wis.'  The  other 
verb  of  this  class,  ought,  is  now  present  and  preterit  in  use. 
From  the  same  root  are  the  weak  verb  owe  '  be  in  debt  for ' 
and  own,  an  adjective  and  late  weak  verb.  Dialectally 
ought  appears  as  a  past  participle  in  the  expression  '  had 
ought.' 

441.  The  preterit  eou/d  is  derived  from  OE.  euc^e 
(<*eun^e),  ME.  eoude,  the  spelling  with  /  being  due  to 
analogy  of  would,  should,  §  235.  Connected  with  it  is  the 
old  participle  cud  '  known,'  now  found  in  uncouth,  but  with 
change  of  meaning.  The  verb  dare  has  become  weak,  and 
the  older  durst,  with  its  dialectal  variant  da{f)st,  is  some- 
times present  in  use. 

442.  The   original   meaning   of  shall  was   *  be   obliged, 


232       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

ought,'  and  this  is  still  found  in  certain  uses  oi  should.  The 
old  participle  of  may  is  found  in  the  adjective  ftiain^  as  in 
*  main  strength.'  Beside  might,  there  is  also  an  archaic 
preterit  mought.  As  a  present,  mote  is  found  only  in  the 
archaic  *  so  mote  it  be.'  Must,  like  ought,  is  now  present  as 
well  as  preterit. 

443.  The  preterits  of  such  verbs  originally  assumed 
present  use  owing  to  quite  natural  changes  in  meaning. 
This  may  be  illustrated  by  almost  any  of  them.  For  ex- 
ample, Latin  novi  meant  *  I  have  become  acquainted  with,' 
which  is  equivalent  in  meaning  to  *  I  know.'  It  was  not  un- 
natural, therefore,  that  Latin  novi  should  have  come  to  be 
used  with  present  meaning.  So  with  all  of  the  Old  English 
verbs.  New  changes  due  to  this  same  cause  are  also  found 
in  Modern  English.  For  example,  ought  and  must  have 
assumed  present  use,  though  originally  weak  preterits.  The 
same  is  true  of  durst  in  older  Modern  English,  and  a  similar 
tendency  is  shown  by  some  uses  of  should.  A  colloquial 
preteritive  present  of  late  formation  is  have  got  in  the  sense 
of  *  have,  possess.' 

Verbs  with  Original  Presents  in  -mi 

444.  A  few  Indo-European  verbs  took  an  ending  -mi 
in  the  first  person  singular  of  the  present  indicative,  instead 
of  the  usual  ending  -o.  Examples  are  Latin  sum  and  Eng- 
lish am,  the  latter  showing  the  only  relic  in  Modern  English 
of  this  older  suffix.  To  this  class  of  ;«/-verbs  belong  be 
{am),  do,  go,  and  7vilL 

445.  The  verb  to  be,  as  it  is  called,  is  made  up  of  three 
different  roots,  which  appear  in  Modern  English  am  {is, 


THE  VERB  233 

are),  be  {being,  been),  and  was  {were).  Each  had  numer- 
ous forms  in  Old  English,  as  a  present  indicative  and  sub- 
junctive-optative/ while  be  and  was  had  also  an  infinitive, 
imperative,  and  participle,  and  was  a  preterit  indicative  and 
subjunctive-optative.  Of  these,  there  remain  in  Modern 
English  only  a  present  indicative  from  the  first  root,  a 
present  subjunctive,  infinitive,  and  imperative  from  the  sec- 
ond root,  and  a  preterit  from  the  third  root.  The  participle 
been  is  a  new  formation  of  Middle  English  times.  The 
forms  of  the  roots  are  various,  owing  to  many  phonetic 
changes.  Thus  s  of  is  has  entirely  disappeared  from  am, 
and  has  become  r  in  are. 

446.  The  third  root,  which  now  forms  the  preterit  was — 
ivere  of  the  verb  to  be,  is  not  strictly  a  w/-verb.  It  was 
really  a  strong  verb  of  the  fifth  class  with  all  forms  except 
the  past  participle.  Only  the  preterit  has  been  kept  in 
Modern  English,  except  that  the  imperative  occurs  in  the 
word  wassail,  originally  '  be  whole,  happy.'  The  r  of  were 
springs  from  an  original  s,  as  in  are  <  is. 

^^*j.  The  verbs  will,  do^  and  go  also  belonged  to  the  mi- 
verbs  originally,  although  the  mi  ending  has  not  been  kept 
in  English.  The  corresponding  Latin  verbs  retain  the  m 
suffix  in  the  subjunctive,  as  velim,fiam,  earn.  The  verb  will 
is  now  defective.  Its  preterit  would  (OE.  wolde)  has  been 
formed  by  analogy  of  weak  verbs.  The  preterit  did  (OE. 
dyde)  is  apparently  a  reduplicated  form.  The  verb  go  is 
now  found  only  in  the  present  system  and  in  the  perfect 

1  The  term  subjunctive-optative  is  used  for  a  mode  which  had  the  uses 
of  the  subjunctive  and  potential  in  Modern  English,  or  the  subjunctive  and 
optative  in  Greek. 


234       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

participle  gone.  Its  old  preterit  lode  is  found  as  yeede,  yede 
in  Chaucer  and  Spenser,  but  has  since  been  supplanted  by 
went^  an  old  preterit  oi  wend^  §  413. 

448.  There  were  once  certain  anomalous  forms  of  these 
verbs  due  to  combinations  with  the  negative.  The  Old 
English  negative  ne  was  prefixed  to  some  verbs  in  Old  Eng- 
lish, notably  was  and  will.  These  forms  have  not  been 
preserved,  however,  except  the  negative  form  of  will  in  the 
Shakespearean  willy  nilly  *  will  he,  nill  {ne  -\-  will)  he.' 
The  negative  not  (OE.  naht,  noht,  'nothing'),  used  after 
certain  verbs,  gradually  united  with  them  through  lack  of 
stress,  as  in  caiCt^  mayn't,  shan't<,  shall  not  with  loss  of  /. 
Won't  <  will  not  shows  change  of  /  to  u  (written  0)  after 
w,  §  107.  Don't  does  not  rightly  belong  to  the  third 
singular,  but  is  often  used  for  doesn't  by  analogy. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

VERBAL  INFLECTION 

449.  The  simplicity  of  our  Modern  English  verbal  inflec- 
tion is  a  striking  proof  of  the  tendency  to  uniformity  which 
has  characterized  the  development  of  English.  The  Old 
English  inflectional  system,  though  not  as  elaborate  as  that 
of  the  classical  languages,  included  many  different  forms. 
The  results  of  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows.  The  infinitive,  imperative,  and  sub- 
junctive-optative do  not  differ  from  the  indicative,  except 
that  the  subjunctive-optative  sometimes  has  a  third  singular 
without  inflectional  ending.  The  singular  and  plural  of  the 
preterit  are  alike,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  present  with 
exception  of  the  third  singular  indicative.  The  past  parti- 
ciple is  the  same  as  the  preterit  in  all  weak,  and  in  many 
strong,  verbs.  The  numerous  forms  of  the  old  English  verb 
have  been  reduced  to  four  for  weak  verbs,  as  stir — stirs  — 
stirring  —  stirred;  and  five  (often  four)  for  strong  verbs, 
as  sing — sings  —  singing — sang — sung.  This  does  not 
include  certain  anomalous  verbs,  as  be  and  go^  in  which 
the  forms  are  somewhat  more  numerous,  as  shown  in 
§§  445-447- 

450.  The  two  tenses  of  the  Teutonic  verb,  §  37,  as  they 
appeared  in  the  various  modes  formed  two  tense  systems, 

235 


236       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 


the  present  and  preterit.  The  present  system  was  inflected 
in  Old  Enghsh  as  follows,  minor  differences  being  disre- 
garded. Examples  are  given  of  typical  weak  and  strong 
verbs  through  all  forms. 


Weak 

Indicative 
Singular  i  dime  ♦  deem  * 

2  dem(e)st 

3  dem(e)S 
Plural       I,  2,  3  dematJ 

Subjunctive-Optative 
Singular  i,  2,  3  dime 
Plural       I,  2,  3  demen 


Imperative 


Singular 
Plural 


2  dim 

1  diman 

2  dima^ 


Strong 

binde  *  bind 
bindest 
binde^ 
bindaS 


binde 
binden 


bind  (binde) 

bindan 

binda^ 


Infinitive 
deman(-anne) 


bindan  (-anne) 


Participles 
demende 


bindende 


451.  Most  of  the  inflectional  changes  in  the  verb  are 
accounted  for  by  the  weakening  of  unstressed  a  to  e,  the 
loss  of  final  «,  and  then  of  final  e  as  in  other  inflectional 
forms.  Other  changes  require  more  extended  explanation. 
In  the  singular,  such  forms  as  deemest  and  deemeth  are 
archaic,  or  remain  in  poetry  and  only  occasionally  in  prose. 
The  place  of  the  first  was  taken  by  the  second  plural  when 


VERBAL  INFLECTION  TiM 

you  took  the  place  of  thou,  §  366.  The  place  of  the  second 
was  taken  in  early  Modern  English  by  a  form  ending  in  -s, 
as  deems,  binds.  This  is  a  phonetic  development,  not  of 
the  Midland  form  in  -eth,  but  of  the  -es  form  of  the  North- 
ern dialect.  The  present  plural  without  inflectional  ending, 
as  bind,  comes  from  a  Midland  form  in  -en  which  in  Middle 
English  had  displaced  the  older  -eth  {OE.  ad).  This  ME. 
-en  ending  was  probably  due  to  analogy  of  the  OE.  sub- 
junctive-optative -en  suffix.  In  late  Middle  English,  by  the 
loss  of  final  n  and  then  of  final  e,  the  plural  assumed  its 
present  form. 

452.  By  similar  changes  the  OE.  subjunctive-optative 
became  the  same  as  the  indicative,  except  in  the  third 
person  singular.  On  this  account,  no  doubt,  the  subjunc- 
tive-optative has  been  gradually  losing  ground  in  Modern 
EngHsh,  and  its  place  has  been  supplied  by  the  indicative 
and  by  compound  forms  with  auxiliaries.  The  imperative 
retained  in  Middle  English  a  plural  in  -eth,  and  sometimes 
a  singular  in  -e,  but  later  lost  the  endings  of  both  singular 
and  plural.  The  infinitive  in  -an  and  its  inflected  form  in 
-anne  were  reduced  to  a  single  form  in  -en  in  Middle 
EngHsh,  and  finally  to  the  present  form  by  the  loss  of 
this  -en  ending  as  in  many  other  words.  The  to,  now 
considered  part  of  the  infinitive  form,  belonged  originally 
only  to  the  inflected  form,  but  gradually  became  estab- 
lished with  all  infinitives  except  after  auxiliaries  and  a 
few  other  verbs.  The  participial  ending  -ende  was  'dis- 
placed in  Middle  English  by  the  suffix  -ing,  -inge,  probably 
by  analogy  of  verbal  substantives  in  -ing,  from  Old  English 
'Ung,  -ing. 


2J8       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

453.  The  forms  of  the  preterit  system  in  Old  English 
were  as  follows  :  — 

Weak  Strong 
Indicative 

Singular  i  detnde  band 

2  demdes(t)  bunde 

3  demde  band 
Plural        I,  2,  3  demdon  bundon 

Subjunctive-Optative 
Singular     i,  2,  3  demde  bunde 

Plural        1,  2,  3  demden  bunden 

Participle 
(ge)demed  (ge)  bunden 

454.  By  ordinary  inflectional  changes,  as  the  weakening 
of  -on  to  -en  and  the  final  loss  of  the  <?«,  e  endings,  most  of 
these  forms  were  reduced  to  those  of  Modern  English.  As 
in  the  present  tense  the  indicative  second  singular  ending 
in  -est  has  been  displaced  by  the  corresponding  plural  form. 
The  inflection  of  the  preterit  of  strong  verbs  was  compHcated 
by  the  use  of  two  stems.  Under  the  levelling  tendency 
sometimes  one  form,  sometimes  the  other,  came  to  be  used 
in  both  singular  and  plural.  In  bind^  the  preterit  bound 
springs  from  the  plural  root,  §425.  In  sing  and  write,  the 
preterits  sang  and  wrote  come  from  the  singular  stem,  in 
which  they  are  followed  by  the  somewhat  larger  number  of 
the  strong  class.  In  early  Modern  English  the  second 
person  singular  of  the  strong  preterit  took  -est  by  analogy  of 
weak  verbs,  but  this  has  since  been  lost  as  in  the  present 
tense.  The  subjunctive -optative  also  lost  all  vestige  of  the 
original  inflection,  and  no  longer  differs  from  the  preterit 


VERBAL  INFLECTION  239 

indicative.     Instead  of  it,  the  compound  forms  with  auxilia- 
ries are  usually  used. 

455.  The  weak  participle  does  not  diifer  from  the  preterit, 
as  already  mentioned  in  §  408.  The  strong  participle  has 
lost  the  suffix  -en  in  some  cases,  as  in  stems  ending  in  two 
consonants  or  in  a  nasal.  Such  forms  as  bounden,  shrunken^ 
sunken,  are  adjectives  only.  The  suffix  has  also  been  lost  if 
the  verb  has  become  weak  or  the  participle  has  been  re- 
placed by  the  preterit  through  the  influence  of  analogy. 
Some  adjectives  in  -en,  from  participles  of  strong  verbs  that 
have  become  weak,  are  still  found,  as  laden,  graven,  §  434. 
In  stems  ending  in  a  vowel  or  r  the  suffix  -en  has  become  n. 
Examples  are  seen,  drawn,  born,  torn;  and  borne,  done, 
gone,  with  mute  e. 

Compound  Forms 

456.  In  addition  to  the  simple  inflectional  system  of  'the 
verb,  there  were  in  Old  English  the  beginnings  of  most  of 
the  compound  forms  belonging  to  the  language  to-day. 
Besides  the  two  inflected  tenses  already  described,  com- 
pound forms  for  perfect  (present  perfect),  pluperfect  (past 
perfect),  and  future  were  sometimes  used.  Only  the  com- 
pound future  perfect,  which  is  even  now  uncommon,  did 
not  occur.  Besides,  there  was  in  Old  Enghsh  a  passive 
voice  made  up  of  past  participle  and  the  weak  verbs  b'eon 
{wesafi)  'be'  or  weor^an  'become.'  The  beginnings  of 
the  Modern  English  potential  mode  may  also  be  seen  in 
certain  uses  of  the  verbs  may,  can,  etc.,  with  infinitives. 
The  special  discussion  of  the  compound  forms  belongs  to 
syntax,  but  it  may  here  be  noted  that,  while  there  were 


240       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

compound  forms  in  Old  English,  they  had  not  displaced 
inflected  forms  in  similar  uses. 

457.  The  history  of  one  particular  tense,  the  future, 
deserves  more  special  notice.  In  Old  English,  shall  and 
will  were  used  with  infinitives,  but  usually  with  a  clear 
recognition  of  the  original  meanings  of  the  verbs  *  ought ' 
and  'wish.'  During  the  Middle  English  period  the  future 
came  to  be  regularly  expressed  by  the  auxiliary  shall. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  same  period  will  was  also  used 
along  with  shall  in  the  first  person  to  express  a  promise  or  a 
threat.  In  the  modern  period,  will^  which  had  begun  to  be 
used  in  the  first  person  for  promises  and  threats,  came  to  be 
used  in  the  second  and  third  persons  to  express  futurity. 
By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  present  usage 
had  fully  established  itself;  that  is,  will  in  the  first  and  shall 
in  the  second  and  third  persons  to  express  a  promise  or 
threat,  shall  in  the  first  person,  and  will  in  the  second  and 
third,  to  express  futurity.  This  distinction  has  sometimes 
been  lost  in  dialects,  and  is  occasionally  ignored  by  good 
speakers  and  writers.  Besides,  interrogative  sentences  have 
their  own  distinctive  usage,  and  shall  sometimes  retains  an 
older  sense  of  obligation,  when  it  does  not  conform  to  the 
scheme  above. 


CHAPTER   XX 

ADVERBS  AND  OTHER  PARTICLES 

The  Adverb 

458.  The  classes  of  adverbs  requiring  special  attention  in 
a  history  of  English  are  those  formed  from  nouns,  adjectives, 
and  pronouns  by  derivative  endings.  These  alone  have 
suffered  considerable  changes.  Those  formed  from  adjec- 
tives are  by  far  the  most  numerous.  In  Old  English,  adverbs 
derived  from  adjectives  had  most  commonly  the  suffix  -e. 
Examples  are  hearde,  wide  <  heard,  wtd  '  hard,  wide.'  If 
the  adjective  itself  ended  in  -e,  the  adverb  was  unchanged  in 
form,  as  OE.  clane  <  cl^ne  *  clean.'  A  few  Old  English 
adverbs,  some  of  them  without  corresponding  adjectives, 
ended  in  -a,  as  sona  *soon.'  This  final  a  became  -e  in 
Middle  English. 

459.  By  the  loss  of  final  e  in  Middle  English,  adverbs  of 
this  sort  came  to  have  the  same  form  as  the  adjective. 
Some  of  these  have  remained  to  the  present  day  in  standard 
English,  as  /lard,  fast,  first,  and  many  more  are  found  in 
dialectal  English  and  in  the  older  language  of  poetry.  For 
it  is  historically  inaccurate  to  say  that  the  poet  uses  the 
adjective  instead  of  the  adverb,  since  he  is  but  continuing 
the  usage  of  an  older  adverbial  form.  In  standard  English, 
most  of  these  older  adverbs  have  taken  the  more  distinctive 
adverbial  ending  -ly. 

R  241 


242        THE   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

460.  Adverbs  are  now  formed  regularly  by  adding  -ly  to 
the  adjective,  and  this  adverbial  derivative  has  come  down 
to  us  from  the  earliest  times.  The  suffix  in  Old  English, 
however,  was  not  -ly  but  -lue,  allied  to  like.  This  gave  in 
Southern  English  of  the  middle  period  the  form  -liche  so 
common  in  Chaucer,  but  in  Northern  and  Midland  -lik. 
In  the  latter,  the  final  consonant  of  the  unaccented  syllable 
was  then  lost,  as  in  the  weak,  or  unstressed  form  of  ik  '  I,' 
§  365.  This  adverbial  -ly  has  become  the  predominant 
suffix  in  Modern  English,  and  has  been  added  by  analogy 
to  many  adverbs  to  which  it  did  not  originally  belong,  as 
well  as  to  foreign  words.  In  some  cases  there  are  two 
forms,  one  with,  the  other  without  -ly,  as  ha7'd — hardly, 
wide  —  widely,  even  —  evenly.  These  usually  have  slightly 
different  meanings  or  use. 

461.  Some  adverbs  were  formed  from  adjectives  in  Old 
English  by  adding  -unga,  -inga,  but  these  have  not  been 
preserved  to  the  modern  speech.  A  few  were  also  formed 
from  nouns  with  the  suffix  -ling.  In  Modern  English  this 
ending  was  confused  with  -long,  as  in  headlong,  sidelong,  the 
last  of  which  also  appears  as  sideling. 

462.  Some  adverbs  are  derived  from  the  oblique  cases  of 
adjectives.  Examples  of  those  formed  from  the  accusative 
case  are  enough,  full,  and  adverbs  in  -ward,  as  homeward, 
upward,  backward.  Adverbs  from  the  genitive  case  are 
else  <  OE.  elles,  unawares  <  unwares,  upwards  <  upweardes. 
Since  Old  English  times  the  genitive  forms  have  been  some- 
what increased  in  number.  For  instance,  eftsoons  and  for- 
wards were  in  Old  English  eftsona  and  forweard.  The 
numeral  adverbs  once,  twice,  thrice  are  also  examples  of  the 


ADVERBS  AND    OTHER  PARTICLES  243 

extension  of  the  genitive  suffix,  the  spelHng  -ce  being  put  for 
voiceless  i-  <  ME.  -es.  There  are  also  at  present  a  few 
adverbs  made  up  of  a  preposition  and  an  adjective,  and 
these  are  in  some  cases  from  Old  English  forms,  as  together 
<  togcedere,  along  <  andlongy  without  <  widut,  before  <  be- 
foran. 

463.  Some  adverbs  have  also  been  formed  from  the 
oblique  cases  of  nouns.  An  example  of  an  older  genitive 
used  as  an  adverb  is  needs  <  OE.  neades  in  such  expressions 
as  *  he  must  needs  die.'  The  instrumental  case  accounts  for 
the  adverb  sore  in  '  he  was  sore  afraid.'  In  whilofn  (OE. 
himlutn)  the  dative-instrumental  plural  is  preserved.  In 
piecemeal  is  preserved  the  shortened  form  of  an  old  suffix 
malum.  An  old  accusative  occurs  in  alway  <  ealne  weg. 
In  Middle  and  early  Modern  English  other  adverbs  made 
up  of  way  and  a  modifying  adjective  were  formed,  as  mid- 
way, straightway,  someway.  In  a  similar  manner  an  old 
noun  wise,  *  manner,  way,'  in  composition  with  certain  com- 
mon adjectives  formed  the  adverbs  otherwise,  noivise,  like- 
wise. Later  the  noun  way  in  compounds  became  -ways  by 
analogy  of  genitives,  and  it  was  then  confused  with  -wise. 
Finally  both  came  to  be  added  to  nouns  as  well  as  to  adjec- 
tives, so  that  there  are  such  forms  as  lengthways,  lengthwise, 
endways,  endwise. 

464.  Two  other  nouns,  time  and  while,  have  formed  ad- 
verbs in  composition  with  adjectives,  as  meantime,  sometime ^ 
meamvhile.  There  are  also  the  genitive  formations  so7ne- 
times,  of  times,  by  analogy.  Here  may  be  placed  many 
prepositional  phrases  that  have  become  adverbs,  as  away  < 
on  weg,  beside  <,  be  sidan,  to-night  <  to  fiiht.     In  a  similar 


244       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

manner  certain  French  phrases  consisting  of  a  preposition 
and  a  noun  became  adverbs.  Examples  are  apart^  apace, 
around <0Y.  en  rond,  ME.  on  rounde,  perchance,  per- 
adventure. 

465.  Some  adverbs  have  been  formed  from  pronouns,  or 
pronominal  roots.  Thus  the  in  such  expressions  as  the  more, 
the  better,  and  in  nevertheless  or  the  older  natheless,  is  in 
use  an  old  instrumental  of  the  demonstrative  the,  that, 
§  381.  Of  pronominal  origin  also  are  certain  adverbs  of 
place  answering  the  question  where,  whither,  whence.  There 
are  in  Modern  English,  as  in  the  oldest  period,  three  series 
from  the  pronominal  roots  of  he,  that,  and  what.  They  are 
here  —  hither  —  hence  ;  there  —  thither  —  thence  ;  where  — 
whither —  whence.  Besides,  many  pronominal  adverbs  have 
been  formed  by  the  union  of  a  pronominal  adverb  with  a 
preposition,  or  even  with  an  adjective.  Of  the  first  sort  are 
therefore,  wherefore,  thereof,  thereupon;  of  the  second  are 
somewhere,  anywhere,  elsewhere.  The  compounds  are  due 
to  a  gradual  union  of  two  separate  words  constantly  used 
together.  Of  pronominal  origin  also  are  why,  when,  and 
thus. 

466.  In  Old  English,  adverbs  derived  from  adjectives 
admitted  of  comparison,  the  comparative  and  superlative 
being  the  same  as  for  adjectives.  In  other  words,  the  com- 
parative and  superlative  of  the  adjective  could  be  used  as 
adverbs.  We  still  use  the  comparative  of  the  adjective  as 
an  adverb  in  some  cases,  as  harder,  nearer.  The  similar 
superlative  use  is  preserved  only  in  a  few  adverbial  phrases, 
as  at  best,  at  least,  at  worst.  The  Middle  English  form  of 
these  phrases  included  the  demonstrative  'pronoun,  as  £/W 


ADVERBS  AND    OTHER  PARTICLES  245 

(at  the)  best,  and  a  similar  form,  at  the  best,  is  sometimes 
found  in  Modern  English,  but  without  the  sanction  of  best 
usage. 

467.  It  has  been  pointed  out,  §  158,  that  the  borrowed 
words  of  a  language  are  usually  nouns,  adjectives,  and  verbs, 
but  seldom  words  of  any  other  class.  It  is  true  there  are  in 
English  some  adverbs  of  Old  French  origin.  These  are  due 
especially  to  the  fact  that  the  Old  French  adjective  was 
sometimes  used  as  an  adverb  without  change  of  form.  Thus 
certain,  scarce,  are  sometimes  adverbs  in  use.  But  in  gen- 
eral these  and  other  French  words  have  taken  the  more 
distinctive  adverbial  ending  -ly,  as  scarcely,  certainly,  or  -y 
in  the  case  of  French  adjectives  ending  in  -le,  as  nobly, 
possibly.  Exceptionally  very  is  more  common  than  the 
extended  form  verily.  There  are  besides  some  adverbs  of 
Old  French  origin  from  prepositional  phrases,  as  noticed  in 
§464. 

Prepositions 

468.  Closely  allied  to  adverbs  are  the  prepositions,  which 
are  in  fact  adverbs  in  origin  and  often  retain  adverbial  uses. 
For  example  at  in  *  he  struck  at  him,'  is  an  adverb,  while 
the  same  word  in  *  he  is  ^/  the  door '  is  a  preposition.  In 
Old  English  prepositions  were  simple  or  compound.  The 
simple  prepositions  preserved  to  Modern  English  are  at, 
after,  for,  from,  in  (§  52),  of,  on,  out,  over,  to,  through, 
under,  with.  To  these  by  was  added  in  Middle  English. 
In  the  same  period  with,  which  meant  *  against,'  seldom 
'  with,'  came  to  be  used  for  '  with '  alone,  displacing  mid  in 
that  sense.     The  confusion  arose  through  such  expressions 


246       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

as  fight  withf  in  which  the  preposition  could  have  either 
sense.  At  the  same  time  till  came  into  more  general  use 
beside  to^ 

469.  Compound  prepositions  were  derived  from  phrases 
composed  of  a  preposition  and  a  noun  or  adjective  in  an 
oblique  case,  or  from  expressions  made  up  of  prepositions 
and  adverbs  of  place  used  in  a  pronominal  sense.  Of  the 
first  kind  are  among,  again,  amidst,  betiveen,  betwixt,  beside. 
Of  the  second  class  are  above,  about,  before,  beyond,  behind, 
be  flea  th,  underneath,  within,  without.  There  are  also 
toward,  from  to  and  the  adverbial  ending  ward,  unto  an 
old  compound  form,  and  until  used  first  in  Middle  English. 
In  the  same  period  except  was  adopted  from  Old  French, 
the  word  being  a  participle  from  OF.  excepter. 

470.  The  list  of  prepositions  has  been  considerably  in- 
creased in  Modern  English.  Especially  noticeable  are 
certain  phrases  used  as  prepositions  although  not  written 
as  compounds.  Examples  are  as  to,  as  regards,  in  respect 
to,  in  accordance  with. 

Conjunctions  and  Interjections 

471.  Conjunctions,  like  prepositions,  are  in  their  origin 
adverbs,  or  sometimes  pronouns,  as  the  conjunction  that. 
Some  common  conjunctions  are  Old  English.  Examples 
of  simple  conjunctions  preserved  from  Old  English  times 
are  and,  if,  for,  yet,  that,  since,  so,  than  {then),  §  146, 
though.  There  are  also  many  compound  conjunctions,  as 
but  <i  OE.  be  utan,  therefore,  wherefore,  because.  Some  of 
these  belong  to  the  oldest  English,  some  to  Middle  English, 


ADVERBS:  AND   OTHER  PARTICLES  247 

and  some  are  modern.  A  few  contain  French  words,  as 
because.  Beside  and  {rom  Old  English,  there  came  into  tlie 
language  in  Middle  English  the  Norse  word  and  '  if.'  This 
remained  in  early  Modern  English  in  the  form  and  {an), 
but  is  now  no  longer  used.  Many  new  conjunctions  have 
been  formed  in  Modern  English  from  adverbial  uses  of 
simple  or  compound  words,  or  phrases,  as  forasmuch,  not- 
withstatiding,  as  well  as. 

472.  Interjections  are  sometimes  classed  separately,  rather 
from  use  than  because  of  any  distinctive  forms  which  they 
have.  That  they  are  not  strictly  a  separate  class  is  clear 
from  the  fact  that  almost  any  word  or  sentence  may  be  used 
as  an  interjection  or  exclamation.  Certain  words  constantly 
used  as  interjections  may  be  mentioned.  Of  Old  English 
origin  are  lo,  woe,  welaway,  what,  and  others.  Alas  is 
from  Old  French.  The  origin  of  many  others  is  doubtful, 
while  many  are  strictly  modern. 

Particles  of  Negation,  Affirmation,  and  Interrogation 

473.  Negative  and  interrogative  particles  are  adverbs  in 
origin.  In  Old  English  the  common  negative  particle  was 
ne,  used  alone  or  in  composition  with  a  few  words,  as 
nces  =  ne  ivas.  In  early  Modern  English  ne  was  lost,  being 
supplanted  by  the  stronger  «<?/<  OE.  naht.  In  Old  Eng- 
lish na  <  ne  a  (ft)  was  also  used  with  ne,  and  this  has 
remained  instead  of  nol  in  certain  expressions  as  Ihal  is  no 
worse.  This  no  is  also  our  common  word  of  denial,  nay 
derived  from  Norse  being  antiquated.  The  single  negative 
in  Old  English  was  usually  strengthened  by  another,  some- 


248       THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  INFLECTIONS 

times  by  two  or  three  others.  This  use  of  the  double  nega- 
tive to  strengthen  negation  early  disappeared  from  standard 
Modern  English,  no  doubt  under  the  influence  of  Latin, 
although  it  is  still  common  among  uneducated  people. 

474.  The  Modern  English  affirmative  particle  yes,  as  well 
as  the  older  yea,  was  found  in  Old  English,  the  one  ge,  the 
other  g'ese,  probably  compounded  of  ge  and  swa  *  so.'  The 
interrogative  particles  are  where,  whither,  when,  whence, 
hozti,  why,  all  from  the  stem  of  the  interrogative-indefinite 
who.  Of  these  where,  whither,  whence  have  been  already 
noticed  in  §  465,  and  why  in  §  386.  How  is  from  OE. 
hu  <  *hwu.  When  <  OE.  hwcenne  has  e  instead  of  a 
through  lack  of  sentence  stress,  as  in  the  case  of  then, 
§   146. 


APPENDIX 


SPECIMENS    OF    OLD,    MIDDLE,    AND 
EARLY    MODERN    ENGLISH* 

OLD  ENGLISH    (WEST  SAXON)    OF  THE  NINTH  CENTURY 
Ohthere  saede  his  hlaforde,^  ^Ifrede  cyninge,  ^5aet  he  ealra 

Ohthere    said  [to]  his        lord,  Alfred  king,  that  he  [of]  all 

NorSmonna  norSmest^  bude.'*     He  cvvaeS  'Saet  he  bude  on* 

Northmen  northmost  dwelt.  He      quoth       that    he    dwelt     in 

S^m  lande  norSweardum  wiS^  Sa  Westsse.     He  ssede  Seah 

the         land  northward    over  against  the  West  sea.      He       said     though 

Saet  tSaet  land  sle^  swlc^e  lang  nort5  Sonan ;  ac  hit  is  eal 

that      that      land       is  very        long      north      thence;       but      it      is      all 

weste,^  buton  on  feavvum  stowum^  styccem^elum  ^^  wiciaS^^ 

waste,  but '  except '  in  few  places  here  and  there  dwell 

Finnas,  on  huntoSe  on  wintra  ond  on  sumera  on  fiscaSe  be 

Finns,       in         hunting       in       winter      and     in       summer       in       fishing     by 

S«re  sse.     He  ssede  'Sset  he  set  sumum  cirre^-  wolde  fandian^ 

the      sea.        He      said      that    he    at  some 'one'  time         would    find  [out] 

hu  longcSget  land  norSryhte^"*  laege,  ot5c5e  hwaeSer  aenig  mon 

how  long  '  far'  that  land      right  north  lay  '  extended'  or    whether       any       man 

*  In  the  translation  of  these  selections  the  corresponding  Modern  English 
word  or  some  form  of  the  same  root  is  used,  if  possible,  whether  exactly 
idiomatic  or  not ;  when  not  entirely  idiomatic,  a  second  meaning  is  some- 
times given  in  '  '.  A  word  in  italics  is  not  derived  from  the  corresponding 
word  in  the  selection  ;  a  word  in  (  )  is  the  corresponding  word,  but  is  not 
necessary  to  the  translation  ;  a  word  in  [  ]  has  no  corresponding  word  in 
the  selection.  A  borrowed  word  in  the  selection,  or  in  the  translation  if 
not  occurring  in  the  original,  is  put  in  heavy  type.  Occasionally  the  spell- 
ing has  been  slightly  modified. 

249 


250  APPENDIX 

be-nor5an"  tJfiem  westenne  bude.     Da^"  for^^  he  nortSryhte 

(be)  north  [of]        that  waste  dwelt.       Then      fared        he       right  north 

be  tJsem  lande ;  let  him  ^*  ealne  weg  Saet  weste  land  on  Saet 

by       the       land;  [he]  left   (him)  alway(s)         that    waste     land    on     the 

steorbord,^^  ond  tSa  wlds£e  on  Saet   baecbord^  t5rie  dagas. 

starboard,  and      the    wide  sea     on      the  backbord '  larboard' three    days. 

Da  waes  he  swa  feor  nor^  swa^^  Sa  hwaelhuntan  firrest"^  fara'S. 

Then  was     he     so        far      north     as         the    whale  hunters  farthest        fare. 

Da  for  he  ■8a  giet  norSryhte  swa  feor  swa  he  meahte  on 

Then  fared  he  (then)   yet        right  north        so         far        as       he        might         in 

tSaem  oSrum^^  8rim  dagum  gesiglan.     Da  beag^*  Saet  land 

the  other  '  second  '  three         days  sail.  Then  bowed  *  turned '  the  land 

tSser  eastryhte,  oSSe^  seo^  see  in  on  Saet  lond,  he  nysse^ 

there      right  east,  or  the         sea    in     on     that      land,      he    wist  [not] 

hwae'Ser,^  buton  he  wisse  tSaet  he  Saer  bad^  westanwindes®^ 

which,    but '  except '  he      wist        that     he     there  abode  '  waited  '  winds  west 

ond  hwon^^  norSan,  ond  siglde  '8a  east  be  lande  swa  swa  he 

and  somewhat       north,        and      sailed    then   east  by  [the]  land      so       as     he 

meahte   on   feower   dagum   siglan.      Da  sceolde^^  he  tJser 

might  in  four  days  sail.  Then        had         he  there  [to] 

bidan   ryhtnor8anwindes,f   for  'Saem  Saet  land      beag      tSeer 

bide 'await'    right-north  winds  for     that      the     land  3^w^^' turned 'there 

su8ryhte,  o88e  seo  sse  in  on  t5aet  land,  he  nysse  hwaeSer. — 

right  south,       or      the     sea    in     on     that     land,     he  wist  [not]    which. 

From  King  Alfred's  Orosius, 


NOTES 

1  See  f  149 ;  the  word  is  here  dative.  2  Both  9  and  p,  §  223,  occur  in 
the  MS.  of  this  selection,  but  ^  has  been  used  throughout,  as  usually  for 
OE.  words  in  this  book.  8  See,  for  ending,  ^  348.  *  fhe  root  of  this  word 
occurs  in  MnE.  build.  ^  See  ^  52.  6  See  ^  468.  7  This  form,  not  found 
in  MnE.,  contains  the  s  of  is.  8  MnE.  waste  is  from  French,  notwithstanding 
its  apparent  resemblance  to  OE.  weste.  9  The  root  occurs  in  MnE.  stow 
'  to  place,'  and  in  place  names  as  Chepstow.  10  Would  be  MnE.  stitchmeal, 
if  preserved;  the  first  part  is  MnE.  stitch  {stick),  the  second,  the  ending  of 
piecetneal.  11  The  root,  borrowed  from  Latin  vlcus,  ^  165,  still  occurs  in 
place  names,  as  Hardwick.  12  The  root  occurs  in  ajar,  \  229,  c  having 
become  ch  in  ME.  i^  a  weak  verb  from  the  preterit  singular y^«rf,  a  strong 
verb  of  Class  III,  $  424.  !•*  The  adverb  right  here  means  'straight, 
directly.'  15  An  OE.  compound  preposition  governing  the  dative.  16  MnE. 
then  is  from  the  same  pronominal  root,  but  a  different  form,    i^  An  OE. 


APPENDIX  251 

strong  preterit  of  Class  VI,  \  433,  the  present  of  which  is  fare,  now  weak. 
18  An  OE.  reflexive  dative  meaning  'for  himself,'  19  See  \  148.  20  MnE. 
larboard  is  from  a  ME.  word;  the  older  name  refers  to  the  fact  that  the 
helmsman,  with  a  paddle  over  the  right,  i.e.  starboard  '  steering-side,'  \  148, 
would  necessarily  have  his  back  to  the  left  side  of  the  ship.  21  MnE.  as  is 
the  weak  form  of  also  <^0^.  alswa;  for  similar  doublets,  see  §  146. 
22  MnE.  farthest  gets  its  th  by  analogy  of  furthest,  \  350.  23  gge  \  358. 
21  MnE.  bowed  '  bent,  turned '  is  from  the  OE.  present  of  this  verb,  bugan, 
\  423.  25  Allied  to  the  OE.  prefix  0^,  \  137;  for  MnE.  or,  see  \  397. 
26  See  \  380.  2r  For  ne-\-Wisse  by  contraction,  \  253;  for  wm^,  see  ^  440. 
28  See  \  396.  29  See  \  419.  so  First  part  of  compound  means  '  from  the 
west';  the  whole  expression,  'wind  from  a  point  a  little  north  of  west.' 
81  An  adverb  from  the  root  of  who,  §  384.  32  With  the  older  sense  of 
'  necessity,'  MnE. '  had  to.'    33  Means  '  wind  from  a  point  directly  north.' 


MIDDLE  ENGLISH    (EAST  MIDLAND)   OF  THE  TWELFTH 
CENTURY 

Dis  ggere^  for  })e^  king  Stephne  ofer  sa3^  to  Normandi  and 

This    year      fared  the      king       Stephen      over    sea      to      Normandy      and 

ther  wes^  underfangen,  for-)?!  ))aet^  hi*'  wenden  J^aet  he  sculde^ 

there    was  received,  for-that  that    they     weened      that    he      should 

ben  alswic  alse*  the  eom^  wes,  and  for  he  hadde  get  ^'^  his 

be       all-such      as   the '  his '  uncle    was,       and      for     he         had        yet         his 

tresor;    ac   he   todeld^^   it   and   scatered   sotlice.      Micel 

treasure;      but     he        dealt       it  [out]   and  scattered  [itj  sotlike  '  foolishly.'   Much 

hadde  Henri  king  gadered  gold  and  sylver,  and  na  god  ne^- 

had         Henry     king      gathered      gold      and      silver,       and     no    good  (ne) 

dide  me^^  for  his  saule  tharof.     Da'*  |je  king  Stephne  to 

did       men         for     his      soul        thereof.       When     the      king       Stephen       to 

Engleland  com,  pa  macod  he  his  gadering  set  Oxeneford, 

England  came    then      made        he      his       gathering        at  Oxford, 

and  ])ar  he  nam^^  fe  biscop^^  Roger  of  Sereberi,  and  Alexander 

and  there  he    took        the  bishop  Roger     of     Salisbury,     and      Alexander 

biscop  of  Lincol,  and  te^^  Canceler^^  Roger  hise  neves,^^  and 

bishop     of     Lincoln,      and    the      Chancellor         Roger       his   nephewS,      and 

dide  selle  in  prisun  til^  hi  iaven^^  up  here^  castles.     Da 

did '  put '  all     in      prison      till      they   gave  up    their  castles.      When 

the  swikes  undergeeton  J^set  he  mllde  man  was,  and  s5fte 

the     traitors  perceived  that     he       mild        man      was,       and       softe 

and  god,  and  na  justise  ne  dide,  |)a  dide  hi  alle  wunder.^ 

and      good,     and     no      justice     (ne)      did,    then      did    they  all      wonders. 


252  APPENDIX 

Hi  hadden  him  manred^*  maked  and  athes  sworen,  ac  hi 

They  had  [to]       him       homage  made         and      oaths         sworn,     but  they 

nan  treuthe  ne  heolden ;  alle  he  wSron  forsvvoren  and  here 

no  truth '  troth '  (ne)        held;  all    they     were  forsworn         and     their 

treothes    forloren,^  forsevric  rice^  man  his  castles  makede 

truths '  troths '    /<?*/' ruined,' for    every       rich  man     his      castles         made 

and  agaenes^  him  heolden,  and  fylden  J^e  land  ful  of  castles. 

and       against  him         held,  and       filled      the    land    full   of       castles. 

Hi  swencten^*  swi)?e  |)e  wrecce^  men  of  ]?e  land  mid  castel- 

They  afflicted  much    the    wretched         men    of    the     land    with     castle- 

weorces.     Da  ))e  castles  waren  maked,   ))a  fylden  hi  mid 

works.         When   the      castles         were  made,      those     filled      they  with 

deovles^  and  yvele  men.     Da  namen  hi  |>a   men   l^e^^   hi 

devils  and        evil        men.        Then        took      they  those   men     that    they 

wenden  ])8et  ani  god^-  hefden,  bathe  be  nihtes^  and  be  daeis, 

weened      that    any  goods  had,  both      by     night  and     by      day, 

carlmen^  and  wimmen,  and  diden^  heom  in  prisun  efter 

carlmen  and        women,        and    did '  put '        them      in       prison        after 

gold  and  sylver,  and  pined ^  heom  untellendlice^"  pining; 

gold      and       silver,       and    tortured        them  \mspeakable  torture; 

for  ne  weeren  naevre  nan  martyrs  ^  swa  pined  alse  hi  w«ron. 

for  (ne)      were         never       no       martyrs  so    tortured    as    they     were. 

—  From  the  Peterborough  Chronicle  (1137). 


NOTES 

1  In  this  selection  g-  is  still  used  for  consonantal  y,  except  as  mentioned 
in  note  21 ;  it  was  soon  displaced  by  5,  and  later  by  y,  §  364.  2  xhe  char- 
acter p  had  replaced  gf,  except  as  the  latter  stood  for  the  conjunction  that ; 
or  the  former  gave  way  to  modern  th.  3  Xhe  digraph  ^,  used  in  OE. 
(WS.  especially),  was  soon  replaced  by  e.  ^  The  use  of  e  for  a:  was  a 
peculiarity  of  Mercian,  and  was  sometimes  retained  in  Midland.  6  The 
whole  expression  means  '  because ' ;  the  sign  gf,  always  used  for  the  con- 
junction that  in  the  MS.  of  this  selection,  has  been  expanded  to  pcet. 
6  Note  that  Norse  they,  §  373,  was  not  yet  used.  '  MnE.  '  would.'  8  The 
ME.  form  of  as ;  compare  German  ah,  and  note  21  to  previous  selection. 

9  Cognate  with  German  Oheim,  later  replaced  by  the  borrowed  word  uncle ; 
note  that  the  OE.  diphthong  had  not  yet  become  a  monophthong,  \  247. 

10  Perhaps^^/  at  this  time  ;  see  \  244.  n  The  prefix  to-  is  cognate  with  Latin 
dis-,  German  zu-.  '^^  The  common  ME.  negative,  since  lost.  13  Shortened 
form  of  men  in  indefinite  sense,  \  400.  i^  Used  in  OE.  also  for  when  or 
then.     16  OE.  niman,  German  nehmen,  later  displaced  by  Norse  take,  §  434. 


APPENDIX  253 

16  See  \  167.  1'  Initial  /5  (M)  of  pronominal  words  often  became  /  in  MEl. 
after  words  ending  in  /  or  d.  ^^  For  difference  between  canceler  and  chan- 
cellar,  see  k>  176.  19  This  form  has  been  replaced,  except  in  dialects,  by  the 
French  cognate  word.  20  gee  ^  468.  21  See  §  432 ;  the  spelling  with  i, 
instead  of  g,  shows  that  this  is  the  direct  descendant  of  the  OE,  verb,  and 
not  yet  replaced  by  the  Norse  word  with  hard  g.  22  See  ^  373.  23  in  bad 
sense  of  '  wondrous  wicked  deeds.'  24  Derived  from  man,  as  French 
homage  from  homme  'man.'  26  MnE.  •forlorn'  with  somewhat  different 
meaning.  26  Meant  '  powerful,'  but  later  influenced  in  meaning  by  riches 
from  French.  27  See  ^  234.  28  From  root  of  swink  '  labour,'  ^427;  liter- 
ally '  make  to  labour.'  29  MnE.  wretched  has  d  by  addition,  \  234.  so  See 
§  167.  31  OE.  relative  particle,  ^  388,  still  retained  in  early  ME.  32  OE 
neuter  plural ^<7a?  'goods,'  now  a  regular  plural,  \  325.  33  xhe  OE.  adverb- 
ial genitive,  \  462,  as  in  the  expression  '  he  works  nights',  where  it  is  nov» 
regarded  as  a  plural.  34  Carl  is  Norse  and  Scotch  form  of  English  churl 
§  51.  35  Do  once  meant '  make,  put.'  36  QE.  pin  <  Lat.  pcena  'punish- 
ment ' ;  MnE.  pine  in  '  peak  and  pine.'  3^  The  root  is  MnE.  tell,  so  means 
•  unrelatable.'    38  See  \  167. 


MIDDLE    ENGLISH    (EAST    MIDLAND)    OP    THE    FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY 

And  see  ^  schulle  understonde  that  Machamete'  was  bora 
in  Arabye,  that^  was  a  pore^  knave  that  kepte  cameles,  that 
wenten*  with  marchantes  for  marchandise ;  and  so  befelle 
that  he  wente  with  the  marchandes^  intoEgipt:  and  thei 
weren  thanne^  cristene*  in  tho^  partyes.^*'  And  at  the 
desertes  of  Arabye  he  wente  into  a  chapelle  where  a  ere- 
myte^^  dwelte.  And  when  he  entred  into  the  chapelle,  that 
was  a  lytille  and  a  low  thing  and  had  but  a  lityl  dore^  and 
alow,  than  the  entree  began  to  wexe^^  so  gret  and  so  large 
and  so  high  as  though  it  had  ben  of  a  gret  mynstre,"  or 
the  sate^^  of  a  paleys.^^  And  this  was  the  firste  myracle, 
the  Sarazins  seyn,'^  that  Machomete  dide  in  his  southe.^^ 
After  began  he  for  to  wexe  wyse  and  riche,  and  he  was  a 
gret  astronomer ;   and  after  he  was  governour  and  prince 


254  APPENDIX 

of  the  lond  ^^  of  Corrodane,  and  he  governed  it  fuUe  wisely. 
—  From  the  Voyage  and  Travel  of  Sir  John  Maundeville^ 
Chap.  XIII  (c.  1400). 

NOTES 

1  ME.  form  of  ye,  \  364.  2  ■  Mahomet.'  8  Common  ME.  relative,  \  388. 
♦'poor.'  6  Note  t  for  d,  \\  231,  413.  ^  Same  as  marchantes  above. 
'  Not  yet  become  then,  \  146.  8  See  §  210.  ^  ME.  plural  of  that,  \  380. 
W  'parts,'  though  the  form  is  that  of  Mxi^. party.  H  'hermit.'  12.  'door.' 
18  '  wax,  grow.'  !•*  See  §  167.  I6  •  gate  ' ;  would  now  be  yate,  but  has  been 
displaced  by  the  Norse  form  with  hard  g,  ^  170.  I6  '  palace.'  i^  <  say. 
18  '  youth.'    19  '  land.' 

MODERN  ENGLISH  OP  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

Thenglisshmeir^  who  were  in  thre  batayls^  lyeng  on  the 
grounde  to  rest  them,^  as  sone  as  they  saw  the  Frenchmen 
aproche,  they  rose  upon  their  fete  fayre  and  easely,  without 
any  hast,  and  aranged  their  batayls.  The  first,  which  was 
the  princes*  batell,  the  archers  ther  stod"^  in  maner  of  a 
herse,**  and  the  men  of  armes^  in  the  botome*  of  the  batayle ; 
therle^  of  Northampton  &  therle  of  Arundell  with  the  second 
batell  were  on  a  wyng  in  good  order,  redy  to  comfort  the 
princes  batayle  if  nede  were.^®  The  lordes  and  knyghtes 
of  France  came  nat"  to  the  assemble  togyder^^  in  good 
order,  for  some  came  before  and  some  came  after  in  such 
hast  and  yvell  order  the  one  of  them  dyd  trouble  another. 
When  the  French  kyng  sawe  thenglisshmen,  his  blode 
chaunged,  and  sayde  to  his  marshals  "  Make  the  Geno- 
wayes^  go  on  before  and  begynne  the  batayle  in  the  name 
of  God  and  Saynt  Denyse."  There  were  of  the  Genowayes 
crosbowes  about  a  fiftene  thousand,  but  they  were  so  wery 
of  goyng  afote^*  that  day  a  six  leages'^  armed  with  their 


APPENDIX  255 

crosbowes,  that  they  sayde  to  their  constables  "  We  be  nat 
well  ordered  to  fyght  this  day,  for  we  be  nat  in  the  case^^  to 
do  any  great  dede^''  of  armes,  we  have  more  nede  of  rest." 
These  wordes  came  to  the  erle  of  Alanson,  who  sayd  "  A 
man  is  well  at  ease  to  be  charged  with  suche  a  sorte  of 
rascalles,  to  be  faynt  and  fayle  nowe  at  most  nede."  — 
The  Battle  of  Crecy,  from  the  Froissart  of  Lord  Berners 

(1523)- 

NOTES 

1 '  The  Englishmen  ' ;  see  therle  =  '  the  earl '  below.  2  •  lines  of  battle.' 
8  Personal  pronoun  used  as  a  reflexive,  §  374.  ■*  Note  the  genitive  in  -es 
with  no  apostrophe,  and  see  §  322.  6  •  stood.'  6  '  hearse,'  i.e.  triangular 
form ;  see  the  word  in  Skeat's  Etymological  Dictionary.  7  See  §  207. 
8  That  is,  behind  the  archers.  »  See  first  note.  10  old  subjunctive-optative, 
meaning  'should  be,"  §  445.  H'not';  see  §  241  for  a  similar  change  of 
short  0.  12  '  together.'  18  •  Genoese.'  i^  •  afoot."  16  •  leagues.'  i^  *  con- 
dition ' ;  see  the  dictionary  for  meaning.    ^'^  '  deed.' 


INDEX 


The  numbers  refer  to  sections.  Subjects  and  names  begin  with  capitals;  words 
ased  as  examples,  except  proper  names,  with  small  letters.  Abbreviations  are  as 
follows  :  adj.  =  adjective  ;  adv,  =  adverb  ;  art,  =  article  :  conj.  =  conjunction  ; 
demon  =  demonstrative  ;  indef.  =  indefinite  ;  inter.  =  interrogative  ,  n.  =  noun  ; 
pref.  =  prefix  ;  pron.  =  pronoun  ;  reU  =  relative  ;  sb.  =  substantive  ;  suf.  =  suffix  ; 
vb.  =  verb. 


a,  354:  pref.,  137,  270. 

abba,  191. 

abbot,  210. 

abide,  "  wait  for,"  152,  270, 
419,  421 ;  '*  suffer,"  152. 

Academy  for  England,  98. 

Academy,  French,  98. 

Accent,  English,  219,  284; 
of  borrowed  words,  292, 
298;   kinds  of,  298. 

accurse,  270. 

ache,  434. 

acorn,  274. 

ad-,  pref.,  270. 

adamant,  208. 

adder,  238= 

Addison,  Joseph,  100;  see 
"  Spectator/' 

Addition,  234. 

Adjective,  analogy  affect- 
ing, 279;  comparison  of, 
345.  351;  inflection  of, 
337»  334'.  twofold  de- 
clension of,  25,  337;  as- 
sumes noun  inflection, 
243;  see  Articles,  Nu- 
merals. 

adjudge,  270. 

admiral,  192. 

ado,  270. 

adown,  104,  270. 

adroit,  181. 

advance,  270. 

adventure,  202,  2x3,  270. 

Adverb,  the,  458-467. 

advise,  211. 


advocate,  211. 

adz,  258. 

^Ifric,  58, 

iEthelard  of  Bath,  62. 

jEthelberht-  46,  47. 

.^thelwold,  57. 

afford,  270. 

affright,  270. 

affront,  175. 

Afghan  language,  11. 

afoot,  270. 

African  words  in  English, 

193- 
after,  468;  pref.,  291. 
against,  234. 
-age,  n.  suf.,  206,  269. 
aggressor,  181. 
ahoy, 189. 
aimlesSj  204, 
ajar,  229. 
alarm,  164, 
alas,  160,  470. 
alb,  167. 

Albanian  language,  13,  14. 
alcalde,  186. 
alcohol.  192. 
alderbest,  liefest,  341. 
Alfred,  King,  56,  58. 
algebra,  192. 
alkali,  192. 
alkoran,  192. 
all,  indef.  pron.,  398. 
alleluia,  191, 
alligator,  186. 
"  Alliterative  poems,"  59. 
alms,  165,  273. 


alone,  354. 

along,  273,  462 

aloof,  189. 

alpaca,  194. 

altar,  167. 

alway,  463. 

am,  444,  445- 

amber,  192. 

amen,  191. 

America,  aboriginal  lan- 
guages of,  194. 

American  English,  121, 

amidst,  234. 

"  Amis  and  Amiloun,"  83 

amuck,  193. 

an,  art.,  352;  suf,,  206. 

Analogy,  effect  on  lan- 
guage, 218,  308;  when 
most  effective,  285;  in 
English,  262-285. 

anchor,  162. 

ancient,  287. 

"  Ancren  Riwle,"  80. 

and,  471;  pre'  137,  142, 
291. 

anear,  109. 

angel,  210. 

angle,  207. 

Angles,  45,  50,  54. 

Anglo-Saxon,  see  Old  Eng- 
lish, 48. 

Anglo-Frisian,  39;  see  also 
Frisian. 

anoint,  270. 

Anselm,  62. 

answer.  143 


258 


INDEX 

[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


ant,  146,  332. 

ante-,  pref.,  205. 

anti-,  pref.,  205. 

antechamber,  181. 

any,  indef.  pron.,  398. 

apace,  464. 

apart,  464. 

apartment,  181. 

Apheresis,  259. 

Apocope,  266. 

apostle,  210. 

Apostrophe,  use  of,  322. 

appeal,  202. 

appear,  202. 

"Apollonius  of  Tyre,"  57. 

Arabic  element  in  English, 
192. 

archbishop,  167. 

archipelago,  185. 

-ard,  n.  suf.,  206,  269. 

arise,  270. 

ark,  162. 

arm,  207. 

armada,  186. 

armadillo,  186. 

Armenian  language,  10, 12, 
14- 

around, 204,  464. 

arouse,  270. 

artichoke,  192. 

Articles,  344;  see  an,  a, 
and  the. 

Aryan  language,  10,  11, 
14;  element  m  English, 
190. 

Ascham,  Roger,  91, 95, 185. 

ask,  237. 

Assimilation,  232. 

at,  468. 

-ate,  suf.,  206. 

atone,  270,  354. 

attend,  202. 

atween,  109. 

auger,  238. 

aught,  indef.  pron.,  399. 

aunt,  335. 

Australian  words  in  Eng- 
lish, 193. 

authority,  239. 

auto  da  f^,  187. 

avast,  189. 

Avestic,  II. 

avow,  202. 

awake,  433. 

aware,  280. 

away,  259,  270,  464. 

"Ayenbite  of  Inwit,"  8ot 

azimuth,  192. 

azure,  190,  224. 

bachelor,  335. 
Bacon,  Francis,  gi. 


bagatelle,  181. 

Bailey,  Nathan,  106. 

bait,  170. 

bake, 434. 

balcony,  185. 

ballet,  i8i. 

balm,  208. 

balsam,  191,  208. 

Balto-Slavic,  10,  14,  17; 
element  in  English,  190. 

banana,  187. 

bandy-legged,  203. 

bank, 207 

bannock, 164. 

barbecue,  194. 

Barbour,  John,  114. 

Barnes,  William,  no,  lia. 

bashaw,  193. 

bask,  170. 

bastard,  269. 

bay,  207. 

Baxter,  336. 

bazaar,  190. 

be,  444,  445- 

be-,  pref,  139. 

bear,  vb. ,  429. 

beat,  436. 

beau, 175. 

beauty,  175. 

beaver,  30. 

because,  254,  471. 

Bede,43,  54,  56. 

bedouin,  192. 

beech,  225. 

beef,  212,  326. 

beet,  167. 

before,  462. 

begin,  426. 

behemoth,  193. 

behest,  234. 

bend, 413. 

benzoin,  192. 

"  Beowulf,"  54,  138. 

bequeathe,  432. 

beseech,  414. 

be.side,  464. 

"  Bestiary,"  82, 

bet,  412. 

between,  356. 

betwixt,  234,  356. 

bey,  193. 

bi-,  pref.,  205. 

"Bible,"  in  Scotland,  116; 
vocabulary  of,  215;  ad- 
jectives, 360;  pronouns, 
377;  verbs  in,  420,  427, 
440. 

bid,  "  pray,  command," 
152,  430,  431;  "offer," 
152,  431- 

billet  doux,  181. 

billion,  357. 


bind,  31,  495. 

binnacle,  187. 

bird,  237. 

bishop,  167,  168. 

bite,  30,  419* 

blackguard,  203. 

Blackmore,  Richard,  ixa. 

-ble,  suf.,  206. 

bleed,  411. 

blend,  413,  437. 

"  Blickling  Homilies,**  57. 

blow,  sb.,  30;  vb.,  436. 

board,  212. 

bodkin,  164. 

Boethius,  56. 

bog, 164. 

Bolton,  Edmund,  08. 

bonfire,  244. 

bonny, 175. 

book, 277. 

"  Book  of  an  Anchoress,* 
81. 

boom,  189. 

boomerang,  193. 

borax,  190. 

Borrowed  words  in  Eng- 
lish, 155-165;  relation  to 
native  words,  196-216; 
inflection  of,  333. 

bosh,  193. 

both,  398. 

bound,  "  prepared,"  234. 

bouquet,  175. 

bow,  vb.,  423. 

box, 167. 

boy, 189. 
I  brace,  325. 
j  bramble,  234. 
I  brat,  164. 

break,  31,  429. 
I  breeches,  328. 
I  breed,  411, 
j  brew,  423. 
!  bridal,  148. 

bridegroom,  274, 

bridge,  225. 

brigand,  184. 

brimstone,  148. 

bring,  414. 

Britain,  43,  44,  47,  sa 

brock, 164. 

brogue, 164, 

brother,  27,  329,  335. 
I  Browning,  Robert,  109 

brunette,  t8i. 
^  Bruniie,  Robert  of,  8a. 
I  build,  413. 

burial,  272. 
I  burlesque,  181. 
I  burn,  127,  413. 
I  Burns,  Robert,  ii7» 
j  burst,  428. 


INDEX 
[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


259 


-oury,  n.  suf.,  171. 

bushel,  325, 

busk,  170. 

but,  471. 

Butler,  Samuel,  loi,  102. 

butter,  167. 

buy,  414. 

by,  468. 

-by,  suf.,  171. 

cabbage,  269. 

cacao,  194. 

cadet,  181. 

Csedmon,  54. 

caftan,  193. 

cairn,  164. 

caitiff,  208. 

cajole,  175,  181. 

calash,  181. 

caldron,  176. 

calf,  212. 

calif,  192. 

call,  169. 

cameo,  185. 

campaign,  181. 

campanile,  185. 

can,  vb.,  438,  439. 

candle,  167. 

candy, 192. 

canker,  167. 

cannikin,  189. 

cannon, 325. 

cannonade,  181. 

canoe,  194. 

canon, 168. 

caoutchouc,  194. 

cap,  167. 

Capgrave,  John,  86. 

capital,  176. 

capon,  167. 

caprice,  181. 

captive,  208. 

caravan,  190. 

caressj  181. 

cark,  109,  175. 

carte  blanche,  181. 

cast,  412. 

castanets,  186. 

castle,  173. 

catacomb,  185. 

catch,  176,  414. 

cattle,  176. 

cause,  175. 

Caxton,    William,    85,    86, 

92,  179,  180. 
cease,  169,  217. 
cell,  169. 
Celtic  language,  10,  16,  26; 

element  in  English,  163, 

164,  172. 
certain,  indef.  pron.,  398; 

adv.,  467. 


certainly,  218. 

chaff,  51,  225. 

chagrin,  181. 

chair,  212. 

chaldron,  176. 

chalk,  51,  162. 

chance,  225. 

chandelier,  175,  224. 

chandler,  175. 

change,  225. 

channel,  176. 

chaperon,  175, 

chapter,  176. 

charge,  176. 

Charles  II,  181. 

chase,  176. 

chattel,  176. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  85  ; 
nouns  in,  319,  327;  adjec- 
tives, 340,  342,  343,  346, 
35 1 >  355".  adverbs,  460; 
pronouns,  364,  366,  372, 
393 ;  verbs,  447. 

check,  190. 

cheese,  167. 

cherry,  272. 

chervil,  167. 

cherub,  190. 

chess,  190. 

chest,  167,  254. 

chew,  423. 

chide,  420. 

child,  329,  334. 

Chinese  language,  89  ; 
words  in  English,  193. 

chintz,  190. 

chocolate,  194. 

choir,  211. 

choose,  32,  422, 

chord,  211. 

Christ,  165;  poem  of,  54. 

christen,  210. 

Christianity,  conversion  of 
English  to,  46. 

"  Chronicle,"  Saxon,  45, 
48,  62,  82,  86,  169,  173, 
174. 

church,  57,  167,  168. 

churl,  51. 

clan,  164. 

Classical  element  in  Eng- 
lish, see  Latin,  Greek. 

clasp,  237. 

claw,  vb.,  437. 

claymore,  164. 

cleave,  "  to  adhere,"  420, 
423;  "  to  split,"  422,  423. 

climb,  109,  425. 

cling,  427. 

clod,  230. 

clothe,  415. 

cobra,  187. 


cobweb,  150,  230. 

cockatoo,  193, 

cocoa,  187. 

coffee,  192. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor, 

109. 
come,  429. 
commandment,  181. 
complaisant,  181. 
Compounds,    in     English, 

143;  obscuration  of,  144, 

147. 
compter,  211. 
conceit,  208. 
conception,  208. 
condor,  194. 
Conjunctions,  471. 
connoisseur,  175. 
console,  181. 
Consonants,  great  shift  of, 

26;   phonetic  changes  of 

English,  222-239. 
Contraction,  253. 
contrary,  269. 
cook, 167. 
coop,  167. 
copal,  194. 
copper,  167. 
coquette,  181. 
cord,  211. 
corn,  251. 

Cornwall,  John,  71. 
corona,  298. 
coronach,  159,  164. 
corporal,  289. 
corps,  178,  181-208. 
corpse,  169,  189,  208. 
Correspondence,     English 

used  in,  82. 
Cossack,  187,  193. 
cost,  412. 
cotton,  192. 
could,  235. 
coulter,  162. 
count,  175. 
counter,  211. 
countess,  173,  335. 
couple,  325. 
court,  173. 
courtship,  204. 
cowl,  167. 
coy,  175, 
coyote,  194. 
crag,  164. 
cranberry,  148. 
cravat,  181. 
crave,  169. 
creed,  167. 
creep,  423. 
cringe,  427. 
crisp,  162,  167. 
crow,  436. 


[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.! 

crowd,  423. 

-dom,  n.  suf.,  147. 

endlong,  109. 

cud, 146. 

don, 253. 

endwise,  463. 

cuirassier,  181. 

doom,  252,  314. 

engine,  202. 

cummin,  191. 

door,  31. 

English,    name,    48;    divi- 

cup, 167. 

'*  Cursor  Mundi,"  8i> 

dotard,  269. 

sions  of  history,  42;  na- 

Doublets, 208. 

tive  element  in,  133-154; 

custard,  269. 

doubt,  211. 

monosyllabic       element, 

cut,  412. 

dough, 31. 

200;  borrowed  elements. 

cuttle-fish,  231. 

Douglas,  Gawain,  114. 

155-195;  spread  of,  130; 
see  Old,  Middle,  Modern 

Cynewulf,  54. 

down,  164,  359. 

Czar,  190. 

drag,  170. 

English. 

draw,  433. 

"  English  Guilds,"  81. 

daintiness,  204. 

dread,  vb.,  437. 

enough,  236;    pron.,  389; 

dais,  209. 

dream,  413. 

adv.,  462. 

daisy,  148. 

dribble,  230- 

enow,  109. 

damask,  191. 

drink,  426. 

ephod, 191. 

damson,  191. 

drip,  230. 

epistle,  210. 

Danes,    language    of,    2a; 

drive,  419, 

-er,  sb.  suf.,  336;  compar. 

conquest  of  England,  58 ; 

drosky, 190. 
Dryden,  John,  98,  loi, 

suf.,  346. 

influence  on  English,  see 

181. 

escape,  202. 

Norse. 

dubiety,  109. 

-ese,  suf.,  206. 

dare,  vb.,  439,  441,  443. 

ducat,  184. 

-esque,  suf.,  206. 

darling,  148. 

dukedom,  204. 

-ess,  sb.  suf.,  206,  336. 

daughter,  335. 

dun, 164. 

-est,  superl.  suf,  346. 

*  David  Grieve,"  112. 

Dunbar,  William,  114. 

even,  sb.,  136,  142. 

deacon, 167, 168. 

Dutch  language,  18, 21 

24: 

ex-,  pref.,  205. 

deal,  252,  413. 

element  in  English, 

t88. 

Excrescent  consonants,  see 

dear,  153. 

duty, 175-225. 

Addition. 

debt,  211. 

dwell,  413. 

executor,  335. 

debut,  175. 

dwindle,  234. 

extravaganza, 185. 

deck,  189. 

eyelet  hole,  203. 

deem,  252, 

each,  indef.  pron.,  398. 

eyen,  92,  327. 

deer,  325. 

Eadwine,  46. 

defile,  252 

carl,  335. 

fall,  436. 

delight,  211. 

earnest,  sb.,  234. 

falsehood,  204. 

dent,  146. 

eat,  31,  430. 

Family  of  languages,  2, 3, 6k 

desk,  209. 

eaves,  251,  273. 

fan,  167. 

devil,  167,  168. 

Ecgberht,  56. 

fancy,  208. 

dey,  193.      _ 

Ecthlipsis,  237. 

farther,  350. 

Dialects,  origin  of,  3;  Old 
English,  49-52;    Middle 

-ed,  vb.  suf.,216;  see  Pret- 

fat, "  vessel,"  146. 

erite,  dental. 

father,  30,  218,  335. 

English,  63-65;  Modern 

Edgar,  King,  188. 

fathom,  30,  325. 

English,  111-130. 

Edward  the  Confessor 

.59. 

feast,  175. 

diamond,  208. 

174- 

fee,  30. 

did,  443. 

Edward    I,     70;    III, 

70. 

feed,  252,  400. 

die,  329. 

188. 

feel,  413. 

dig,  266,  427. 

eftsoons,  109,  462. 

fell,  sb.,  30. 

dight,  167. 

egg,  190. 
either,  397. 

fellow,  169. 

dilettante,  185. 

fennel,  167. 

dint,  146. 

elder,  218,  279,  347. 

Ferguson,  Robert,  117. 

Diphthonging,  247. 

"  Elene,"  54. 

fSte,  175. 

dis-,  pref.,  205. 

Eliot,  George,  112. 

fever,  167. 

disc,  209. 

elixir,  192. 

feverfew,  167. 

dish,  167,  209. 
Dissimilation,  232. 

else,  258,  462. 

few,  398. 

Elyot,  Sir  Thomas,  94 

fiddle,  167,  239. 

distract,  414. 

embers,  234. 

fig,  210. 

divan,  190. 

emmet,  146. 

fight,  428. 
fill,  251. 

dive,  420. 

empress,  173. 

do,  31,  444,  447,  448. 

empty,  234. 

find,  425. 

doe,  167. 

-en,  adj.  suf,  137;  plural 

first,  251,  268,  358. 

doff,  253. 

suf.  of  nouns,  316, 

327; 

fish,  224,  334. 

dole,  252. 

participial  ending,  455. 

five,  357. 

INDEX 
[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


261 


flag,  170. 

flagon, 230. 

flee,  415,  423. 

Flemish  language,  24;  ele- 
ment in  English,  188. 

fling,  427. 

Florence  of  Worcester,  62, 

florin,  184. 

flotilla,  186. 

flow,  30,  437, 

fly,  422. 

fold,  vb.,  437. 

folk,  228,  325. 

Folk-etymology,  see  Anal- 
ogy. 

font,  167. 

food,  252. 

foot,  27,  30,  31,  252,  325. 

for,  468,  471. 

fore,  251 ;  pref.,  291. 

forefront,  204. 

foremost,  348. 

fork,  167. 

former,  349. 

forsake,  433. 

Fortescue,  87. 

fortnight,  228. 

forwards,  462. 

foul,  252. 

fragile,  208. 

frail,  208. 

Franconian  language,  18, 
24.  39- 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  124, 
131.  132- 

freeze,  422. 

freight,  vb.,  414. 

French,  fusion  of,  with 
English,  66-68. 

French  language,  15; 
French  used  in  Eng- 
land, 66,75;  element  in 
English,  172. 

fresh,  237. 

friend,  253. 

Friends,  use  of  thou,  thee, 
367. 

Frisian  language,  18,  24, 
39;  see  Anglo-Frisian. 

fro-,  pref.,  291. 

Froissart,  180. 

from,  463. 

frontispiece,  274. 

full,  257,  462;  adj.  suf., 
137- 

fulfilment,  206. 

fuller,  162. 

further,  228,  349,  350. 

fustian,  184. 

-fy,  suf.,  206. 

Gaelic  language,  16. 


gage,  209. 

Gaimar,  62. 

gallowglass,  164. 

gander,  234. 

ge-,  pref.,  406, 

gehenna, 191. 

Gender,  grammatical,  313; 
in  modern  English,  334. 

"  Genesis  and  Exodus,"  82. 

genially,  204. 

Genitive  case,  322;  of  a 
group,  324;  his  for,  323. 

Geofi'rey  of  Monmouth,  62. 

Gerland,  62. 

German,  High,  18,  21,  23, 
38,  39;  Low,  23,  24,  38, 
39;  element  in  English, 
188-189, 

Germanic,  see  Teutonic. 

get,  170,  432. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  171. 

gift,  170. 

gild,  251,413, 

gin,  sb.,  202;  vb,,  426. 

ginger,  190, 

gird,  413. 

girl,  189. 

give,  430,  432. 

gizzard,  269. 

gladen,  167. 

glen,  164. 

glib,  sb.,  164. 

glide,  421. 

glimpse,  234. 

Gloucester,  Robert  of,  80. 

glow,  vb. ,  437. 

gnaw,  434. 

go,  444,  447. 

God,  148. 

gold,  251. 

gong, 193. 

goodbye, 148. 

goose,  246,  252. 

gopher-wood,  191. 

gospel,  148. 

gossip,  231,  232. 

Gothic  language,  18,  22,  38. 

Gower,  John,  83,  85, 

grandeur,  175. 

grass,  237. 

grave,  vb.,  434, 

Greek  language,  13,  25,  27; 
accent  of,  34,  289;  ele- 
ment in  English,  168. 

green,  252. 

Gregory,  Pope,  47. 

grind,  425, 

gripe,  421, 

groat,  189, 

groom,  32, 

gross,  325, 

grow,  252,  436, 


guano,  194, 
guarantee,  209, 
guard,  209. 
guest,  32,  33,  170. 
guilder,  189. 
gun,  170, 
guttapercha,  193, 
Gutturalization,  248. 
"  Guy  of  Warwick,"  83, 
gypsy,  193. 

haft,  30,  31, 

hail,  170. 

-ham,  sb.  suf.,  171. 

Hamitic  languages,  6. 

Hampole,  Richard,  81, 

hang,  437. 

Hants,  232. 

Hardy,  Thomas,  112, 

hasp,  237. 

hautboy,  175. 

have,  415,  443, 

"  Havelok  the  Dane,"  83, 

haven, 169. 

he,  245,  323. 

head,  236,  325;  suf,,  137. 

headlong,  461. 

heal,  252. 

hear,  415. 

heart,  31, 

heat,  vb,,  412. 

heave,  433. 

Hebrew  words  in  English, 

191. 
hedge,  225, 
heirloom,  203, 
Hellenicbranch.seeGreek, 
help,  109,  428. 
hemp,  232. 
hence,  258,  465. 
Henry  I,  67,    69;    H,  67, 

69;  ni,  68,  75,  189. 
here,  465. 
hew,  456. 
hidalgo,  186. 
hide,   sb.,   151;    vb.,    i5i» 

Higden,  Ralph,  71,  80. 

hill,  27,  32. 

hindmost,  348. 

hit,  412. 

hither,  465. 

hobble,  230. 

hobby-horse,  203. 

hogshead,  189. 

hoist,  189. 

hold,  436. 

holland,  189. 

home,  218,  219. 

"  Homilies,  Metrical,"  81. 

hominy,  194. 

homonyms,  151-207. 


262 


INDEX 
[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


•hood,  n.  suf.,  147. 
hop,  230. 
horse,  325. 
hound, 32. 
housewife,  150. 
how,  474. 
hug,  170. 
hundred,  32. 

Hungarian  words  in  Eng- 
lish, 193. 
hurricane,  194. 
hurt,  412. 
husband, 169,  335. 
hussar,  193. 


hussy,  148,  150. 
hustings,  169. 


I>  365!  confusion  with  nte^ 

-ic,  suf.,  200. 

Icelandic  language,  22. 

-ide,  suf.,  206. 

if.  471. 

ilk,  383. 

immediately,  225. 

imp,  167. 

in-,  pref.,  291;  prep.,  52, 
291,  468. 

inch,  167,  201. 

India,  language  of,  11;  see 
Aryan. 

Indian,  East,  words  in  Eng- 
lish, 190;  West,  194. 

indict,  211. 

indigo,  186,  190. 

indite,  211. 

Indo-European  family,  7, 
8,  1-9,  26;  original  home, 
20;  accent  of,  34,  289; 
inflections  in,  303;  verbs 
in,  37. 

Infinitive,  to  and,  452. 

Inflectional  levelling,  276, 
303-312, 

Inflection,  see  Noun,  Ad- 
jective, Pronoun,  etc. 

-ing,  n.  suf.,  171,  269;  vb. 
suf.,  216. 

inmost,  348. 

inter-,  pref.,  205. 

Interjections,  471. 

interloper,  203. 

ipecacuanha,  194. 

Iranian  languages,  see 
Aryan. 

Irish  language,  16,  119. 

island,  235. 

-ism,  suf.,  206. 

-ist,  suf.,  206. 

it,  370- 

Italian  language,  10,  15; 
element  in  English,  154. 


*  Ivanhoe,"  212. 
I  wis,  109. 
-ize,  206. 

Jaguar,  194. 

jalap,  194. 

James  I,  114. 

janizary,  193. 

jerkin,  18^. 

jeu  d'esprit,  175. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  103, 171. 

jolly,  269. 

Jonson,  Ben,  390. 

judge,  225. 

juggernaut,  190. 

"Juliana,"  54,  So. 

Jungle,  190. 

junk,  193, 

just,  175,  225. 

justice,  173. 

Jutes,  45. 

juxtaposition,  203. 

kangaroo,  193. 

"  Katharine,  Life  of  St.," 

80. 
keep,  244,  413. 
keg,  170. 

kennel,  "  a  gutter,"  171. 
Kenrick,  William,  106. 
Kent,  dialect  of,  50,  51,  64, 

80. 
"  Kentish  Sermons,"  80. 
kerne,  164. 
kernel,  251. 
khan, 193. 
kid,  170. 
kiln,  167. 
kilt,  170. 
kin,  32. 
kindred,  234. 
kine,  328,  329. 
"  King  Horn,"  82. 
"King  of  Tars,"  83. 
kirk,  51. 
kirtle,  170. 
kitchen,  167,  201. 
knead,  432. 
knee,  32. 
kneel,  413. 
knife,  169. 

knights  templars,  332. 
knit,  412. 
knout,  190. 
know,  32,  476. 
knowledge,  229. 
Kurdish,  11. 

lad,  335. 
lade,  434. 
lady,  149. 
lake,  165. 


Lammas, 


land 

Lanf_  _ 

Langh 

lash, 

lass, 

Lath_ 

Latin 


latter 


_  -5,  232. 

a,  136,  142. 

ifranc,  32. 
gland,  William,  83. 

1,  189. 

laaa,  335. 

Latham,  Robert  G.,  20. 

^  atin  language,  15;  ac- 
cent, 25,  26,  27,  29,  30, 
34;  borrowed  words  m, 
49;  use  of,  in  England; 
62,  74,  91;  element  in 
English,  166-172. 
tter,  349,  350. 

laugh,  239. 

law,  169. 

Layamon,  82. 

lead,  252,  411. 

leal,  209. 

lean,  413. 

leap,  vb.,  437. 

learn,  413. 

leg,  171. 

legal,  209. 

legislative,  175. 

leisure,  224. 

leman,  232. 

lemon,  192. 

lend,  .113. 

Lengthening     of    vowels, 
244. 

lengthwise,  463. 

less,  347,  350. 

-less,  adj.  suf.,  137. 

let,  436;  suf.,  206. 

lie,  430. 

lief,  109. 

life,  136,  142,  144,  145,  150. 

life-guard,  203. 

light,  vb.,  412. 

lighter,  "  a  barge,"  189. 

like,  219. 

lily,  167. 

limb,  234. 

Lindsay,  David,  114. 

linen,  167. 

-ling,  adv.  suf.,  461. 

link,  189. 

linstock,  189. 

list,  "  choose,"  251. 

little,  398. 

lively,  150. 

lo,  472. 

lobster,  167,  250. 

lode,  252. 

log,  170. 

London  English,  84. 

-long,  suf.,  461. 

look,  vb.,   compounds    olj 
145. 

lord,  65,  149,  236,  253. 

louse,  252. 


INDEX 

[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


263 


tow,  vb.,  437. 

loyal,  209. 

lust,  251. 

-ly,    suf.,    218,    219,    268, 

276. 
Lydgate,  John,  86,  179. 

Macaulay,    Thomas    Bab- 

ington,  216. 
Mahomet,  192. 
maid,  335. 
main,  442. 
maize,  194. 
make,  415. 
Malay   words   in   English, 

193- 
mallow,  167. 
mammon,  191. 
mammoth,  193. 
man,  indef.  pron.,  399. 
Mandeville,  Sir  John,  83, 
many,  398. 
Map,  Walter,  62,  67. 
marble,  233. 
marigold,  203. 
marline,  189. 
martyr,  167, 168. 
mass,  167. 
mat,  169. 
matador,  186. 
mattock,  164. 
maumet,  192. 
may,  438,  439. 
mazurka,  190. 
mean,  vb.,  413. 
meet,  412. 
melt,  428. 
-ment,  suf.,  206. 
Mercian    dialect,    50,    51, 

56. 
Messiah,  191. 
Metathesis,  237. 
mete,  vb.,  432. 
Mexican  words  in  English, 

mid-,  pref.,  142,  291. 

Middle  English,  42,  62-88; 
dialects  of,  63;  spoken 
language,  69;  written 
language,  73;  borrowed 
element  in,  172-182. 

Midland  English,  64,  82. 

midwife,  142, 

mile,  325. 

mill,  167. 

million,  357. 

Milton,  John,  98,  394. 

Minot,  Laurence,  81. 

minster,  167,  168. 

mint,  162,  167,  201. 

miracle,  173. 

mirage,  175. 


mis-,  pref.,  291. 
mistletoe,  238. 
moccasin,  194. 
Modern   English,   42,    89- 

132;     dialects    of,     in; 

written     language,     92; 

spoken  language,  106. 
monk,  167,  168. 
Monophthonging,  247. 
month,  325. 
moor,  189. 
moose,  194. 
"  Moral  Ode,"  80. 
more,     comparison     with, 

350.  351- 
mortar,  167. 
mosquito,  186. 
mote,  vb.,  438,  442. 
mother,  335. 
mount,  165. 
mouse,  252. 
mow,  vb.,  436. 
mulberry,  167. 
murder,  239. 
mussel,  167. 
must,  "  wine,"  167. 
must,  vb.,  442,  443. 
mustard,  269. 
Mutation,    139,    250,    261, 

328. 
mutton,  212. 
*'  Mysteries,"  80. 

Names,  163,  177. 

nard,  190. 

Nash,  Thomas,  94. 

natheless,  109,  465. 

nation,  224. 

nature,  225. 

naught,  indef.  pron.,  399. 

nay,  473- 

near,  350. 

neat,  "  cattle,"  325. 

needs,  463. 

Negatives,  473. 

neither,  397. 

-ness,  n.  suf.,  137. 

nevertheless,  465. 

newt,  235. 

next,  350. 

nickname,  235. 

nigh,  350. 

night,  246,  325. 

no,  218,  3^4,  355- 

non-,  pref,  205. 

nonce,  355,  371,  392. 

none,  355. 

noon,  167. 

nor,  397. 

Norse,    language,   «2,   38; 

element   in  English,  49, 

169,  172. 


Northern  English,  64,  81. 
Northumbria,    dialect    of, 

51,  53.  54;  literature,  55. 
not,  473. 
Nouns,    inflection    of,    in 

OE.,  313;  in  ME.,  317; 

in    MnE.,    320;     plural 

ending  of,  316. 
Numerals,  352-360. 
nun,  167. 

oasis,  193. 

Occleve,  William,  86. 

ocean,  234. 

of,  146,  229,  468;  pref., 
137- 

off,  146;  pref.,  229,  291. 

offer,  167. 

olden,  341. 

Old  English,  42;  dialects 
of,  49;  literature  of,  53; 
vocabulary  of,  134;  in- 
flectional levelling  in, 
305- 

on,  52,  468;  pref.,  291. 

one,  355,  398. 

only,  354- 

ooze,  153,  236. 

ope,  238. 

opossum,  194. 

or,  347;  pref.,  142. 

orange,  184,  190. 

orchard,  147. 

ordeal,  142. 

organ,  167. 

Orm,  82;  noun  inflection 
in,  317 ;  pronouns  in, 
392,  293. 

"  Ormulum,"  82. 

Orosius,  Chronicle  of,  56. 

osier,  224. 

other,  358,  398,  399. 

Ottoman,  193. 

ought,  vb. ,  199,  439,  440. 

-ous,  suf.,  269. 

out,  468;  pref.,  291. 

outcry,  204. 

outmost,  348. 

over,  251,  468;  pref.,  291. 

overpower,  204. 

owe,  440. 

"  Owl  and  Nightingale," 
80. 

ox,  212,  327. 

Palatalization,  248. 
pall,  167. 
palm,  167. 
pampas,  194. 
pan, 167. 
pappoose,  194. 
partake,  203. 


264 


INDEX 

[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


Particles,  negative,  inter- 
rogative, affirmative,  473. 

Paschal,  191. 

pasch,  167,  168. 

passion,  224. 

''  Paston  Letters,"  78. 

pea,  167. 

peace,  173. 

peach,  170. 

peacock, 167, 

peal,  202. 

pear,  167. 

"  Pearl,  Poet  of,"  83. 

pebble,  230. 

peccadillo,  186, 

Pecock,  William,  86. 

peer,  202. 

pemmican,  194. 

penny, 329. 

pent-house,  274. 

pepper,  167,  190,  254. 

peradventure,  464. 

perchance,  464. 

perfect,  211. 

periwinkle,  167. 

Perry,  William,  106. 

Persian  language,  11;  ele- 
ment in  English,  190. 

Pettie,  George,  94. 

phantasy,  208. 

phoenix,  167. 

Phonetic  change,  218,  220, 
308,  316. 

pibroch,  164. 

pick  axe,  274. 

Pickering,  John,  124. 

piecemeal,  463. 

pilch,  167. 

pile,  167. 

pilgrim,  184. 

pillow,  167. 

pin,  167. 

pine,  167. 

pit,  167,  201. 

pitch,  167. 

plant,  167. 

plaster,  167. 

platoon,  175. 

play,  vb.,  432. 

ylead,  411. 

pleasure,  224. 

plentiful,  204. 

plum,  167. 

pole,  167. 

polka,  190. 

"  Polychronicon,"  71,  80. 

Polynesian  words  m  Eng- 
lish, 193. 

pope, 167. 

Pope,  Alexander,  216. 

poppy, 167. 

pork,  212. 


port,  165,  167. 

Portuguese,  language,  15; 
element  in  English,  187. 

potato,  194. 

pound,  325. 

Prefixes,  analogy  affecting, 
268. 

Prepositions,  468. 

presbyter,  208. 

Preterite,  dental,  36,  404. 

pretty,  249. 

"  Prick  of  Conscience,"  87. 

pride,  230,  252. 

priest,  167,  168,  2q8. 

prison,  173. 

privilege,  173. 

procession,  173. 

Pronouns,  personal,  362- 
373;  possessive,  375-378; 
reflexive,  374;  demon- 
strative, 379-383;  inter- 
rogative, 384-387;  rela- 
tive, 388-394;  indefinite, 
395-400. 

proud,  230,  252. 

psalm,  167,  168. 

"  Psalter,  Metrical,"  81. 

punctilio,  184. 

punt,  167. 

purple,  233. 

put,  412. 

Puttenham,  George,  90,  95. 

quadrillion,  357. 
quid,  146. 
quinine,  194. 
quire,  211,  325. 
quit,  175,  412. 
quoth,  432. 

raccoon, 194. 

rage,  175. 

raid,  170. 

raise,  170. 

Ramsay,  Allan,  117. 

ravine,  175. 

re-,  pref.,  205. 

reach,  414. 

read,  411. 

real,  209. 

ream,  325. 

rebeck,  184. 

red,  31. 

reef,  189. 

reek,  423. 

reeve,  434. 

regal,  209. 

rend,  413. 

renew,  205. 

rent,  173. 

reservoir,  175. 

rhyme,  211. 


rhythm,  211. 

Richard  I,  74. 

riches,  273. 

rid,  vb.,  254,  411. 

riddle,  272. 

ride,  419,  421. 

righteous,  269. 

ring,  vb.,  42^ 

rise,  419. 

rive,  419. 

Romance     languages,    15, 

16,  41. 
rouge,  175. 
row,  vb.,  437. 
royal,  209. 
rudder,  239. 
rue,  vb.,  423. 
"  Rule   of    St.    Benedict," 

57- 
run,  426. 
-ry,  206. 

-s,  n.,  vb.  suf.,  216. 

sabre,  193. 

sachem,  194. 

sack,  167,  168. 

saint,  210. 

salt,  vb.,  437. 

salt-cellar,  203, 

Sanskrit,  ii,  27. 

sassafras,  186. 

Saturday,  162. 

sausage,  269. 

savine,  167. 

Saxon,  people,  41,  45;  lan- 
guage, 18,  24;  West,  lan- 
guage of,  50,  51,  53,  64. 

say,  415. 

scald,  170. 

scan,  170. 

scape,  170,  202. 

scape-goat,  203. 

scarce,  170,  467. 

scare,  170. 

score,  170. 

scorn,  259. 

Scotch  dialect,  51, 113, 115, 
258. 

seamstress,  336. 

second,  358. 

see,  430. 

see,  "  bishop's  see,"  218. 

seed,  252. 

seek,  414. 

seethe,  422,  423. 

self,  383. 

sell,  413. 

semi-,  205. 

Semitic,  languages,  6;  ele- 
ment in  English,  196. 

sempstress,  234. 

send,  413. 


INDEX 
[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


265 


set,  413. 

several,  398. 

shake,  433. 

Shakespeare,  William,  vo- 
cabulary of,  215,  216  ; 
pronouns  in,  367,  369, 
371.  374.  377,  382.  385, 
391,  392,  394,  396,  397, 
4CX). 

shako, 193. 

shall,  438,  439,  442. 

shambles,  167. 

shamrock,  164. 

shape,  434. 

shave,  434. 

she,  372. 

shear,  429. 

shed,  411. 

sheep,  212,  325. 

shepherd,  244. 

sherry,  1S6,  272. 

shine,  419,  421. 

ship,  224;  n.  suf.,  147, 

shoe,  vb.,  415. 

shoot,  422. 

short,  162,  167. 

Shortening  of  vowels,  244. 

shove,  423. 

shred,  411. 

shrine,  167. 

shrink,  426. 

shrive,  167,  419,  421. 

shut,  412. 

sib,  "  relation,"  109. 

sickle,  167. 

side-board,  212. 

sigh,  421. 

silk,  167. 

Simeon  of  Durham,  62. 

since,  471. 

sing,  36,  426. 

sink,  426. 

"  Sir  Gawain,"  83. 

sister,  335. 

sit,  430. 

skill,  170. 

skin,  170. 

skipper,  170,  189. 

sky, 170. 

slay,  433- 

sleep,  sb.,  31 ;  vb.,  244, 437. 

slide,  419. 

sling,  427. 

slink,  427. 

slippery,  31. 

slit,  412,  421. 

slogan,  164. 

sloop,  189. 

smack, "  fishing-boat,"  189. 

smell,  413. 

smite,  419. 

smoothen,  109. 


smugly,  109. 

so,  471. 

sock,  167. 

sole,  167. 

*'  Solomon  and  Saturn,"  57. 

some,  398;  adj.  suf.,  137. 

son,  335;  n.  suf,  171. 

songster,  336. 

songstress,  336. 

sore,  adv.,  463. 

sound,  234. 

South  American  words  in 
English,  194. 

Southern  dialect  of  Eng- 
lish, 51,  64,  80;  see  West 
Saxon,  Kentish. 

sow,  vb.,  252,  416. 

Spanish  language,  15;  cle- 
ment in  English,  186. 

speak,  432. 

"  Spectator,"  The.  99,  102, 

speed,  vb.,  411. 

spell,  vb.,  413. 

spelt,  167. 

spend,  167,  413. 

Spenser,  Edmund,  215, 316, 

447- 

spew,  421. 

spiderweb,  150. 

spilth,  109. 

spin,  427. 

spindle,  234. 

spinner,  336. 

spinster,  335,  336. 

spit,  412,  43t. 

split,  412,  413. 

spoil,  413. 

spool,  189. 

spread,  411. 

spring,  426. 

sprout,  423. 

squaw,  194. 

squire,  259. 

stand,  433. 

standard,  173. 

Standard  language,  of  Eng- 
land, 43-132;  of  America, 
121. 

starboard,  148. 

stature,  225. 

stave,  434. 

stead,  33. 

steal,  429. 

-ster,  n.  suf,  336. 

stick,  vb.,  427,  429. 

sting,  427. 

stink,  427. 

stool,  212. 

stop,  167. 

strap,  167. 

street,  165. 


Stress,  see  Accent. 

stretch,  414. 

stride,  419. 

strike,  420. 

string,  vb.,  427. 

strive,  419. 

sub-,  205. 

subjunctive-optative,    445, 

^  1'^9:      . 

Substitution,  consonant, 
253;  vowel,  253. 

such, 398. 

suck,  423. 

Suffolk,  232. 

sugar,  190,  224,  230. 

suit,  175. 

suite,  175. 

sulphur,  190. 

sultan,  335. 

sumach,  224. 

sup,  427. 

super-,  205. 

sure,  224. 

surety,  224. 

Surnames,  Danish,  171; 
French,  177. 

swab,  189. 

swabber,  189. 

swain,  170. 

swallow,  236. 

swear,  433. 

sweat,  412. 

Swedish  language,  22. 

swell,  427. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  99,  102. 

swim,  426. 

swine,  212,  323. 

swing,  427. 

swink,  "  labour,"  427. 

swoop,  vb.,  437. 

Syncope,  258. 

Syntax,  affected  by  anal- 
ogy, 284. 

table,  212. 

taboo,  193. 

take,  169,  434. 

tame,  31. 

tapioca,  194. 

tapir,  194. 

tardy,  219. 

targum,  191. 

Tartar  words  in  English, 

^93;     „ 
"  Tatler,"  99. 
tattoo,  193. 
tea,  193. 
teach,  414. 
tear,  429. 
tell,  414. 
temple,  167. 
tent,  202. 


266 


INDEX 
[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


Tennyson,  Alfred,  109, 112 

Teutonic  languages,  10,  18 

32,33;  accent  in,  25,  34 

389;  adjective,  35 ;  verbs 

in,  36;  West,  21,  33,  38 

Thames,  239 


_ ,  -jy- 

than,  146,  471. 
that,   demon,    pron.,    380; 
rel.    pron.,    388;    conj., 

Thaun,  Philip  de,  62. 

the,  229,  465. 

then,  146,  229,  471. 

thence,  465. 

there,  465. 

they,  160,  170,  311,  393. 

think,  414. 

thirteen,  356. 

thirty,  356. 

this,  380,  381. 

thither,  464. 

Thomas,  239. 

thorough,  146. 

thorny, 269. 

-thorp,  n.  suf.,  31. 

thou,  27,  365. 

though,  471. 

thousand,  357. 

thrash,  254. 

thrice,  356. 

thrive,  419. 

through,  468,  146. 

throw,  436. 

thrust,  412. 

thunder,  234. 

thus,  229,  465. 

-thwait,  n.  suf.,  17X. 

tight,  153. 

tile,  167. 

till,  468. 

tilt,  231. 

timber,  31. 

time,  suf.,  464. 

tippet,  167. 

titmouse,  274. 

to,  146,  468;  pref.,  137. 

toboggan, 194. 

together,  254,  462. 

tomahawk,  194. 

tomato,  194. 

ton,  325;  suf.,  171. 

to-night,  464. 

too,  146. 

tooth,  246,  252. 

tour,  175. 

tower,  173. 

trans-,  205. 

tread,  432. 

treason,  173. 

treasure,  173. 

Trevisa,  John,  71,  80. 

trigger,  230. 


trillion,  357. 
troublesome,  204. 
trout,  167. 
tun,  16^. 
tunic,  167. 

Turkish  element  in  Eng- 
lish, 193, 
turtle-dove,  167. 
twain,  356. 
twelve,  357. 
twenty,  357. 
twit,  421. 
two,  27,  31,  236. 

udder,  31. 

uhlan,  193. 

ukase,  190. 

Ulfilas,  22. 

ultra-,  205. 

un-,  pref.,  291. 

unable,  204. 

uncle,  J35. 

uncouth,  441. 

under,  468;  pref.,  291. 

unkempt,  231. 

Unvoicing   of  consonants, 

227. 
up-,  pref.,  291. 
Ural-Altaic  family,  6. 
usual,  224. 
utmost,  348. 
utter,  349. 

vampire,  190. 

vane,  228. 

vanilla,  186. 

vat,  228. 

veal,  212. 

venture,  202,  211. 

Verbal  system,  Teutonic, 
36;  English,  401. 

Verbs,  strong,  402,  417- 
443;  reduplicating,  435- 
437 ;  weak,  402,  404-416 ; 
preteritive  present,  438- 
443;  minor  group,  444- 
448;  inflection  of,  449- 
45?. 

verdict,  211. 

verdure,  225. 

verily,  467. 

very,  467. 

vine,  175. 

vixen,  228. 

Vocabulary,  English,  133- 
216. 

Vocalization  of  consonants, 
236. 

Voicing  of  consonants,  227. 

vow,  202. 

Vowels  in  English,  pho- 
netic changes  of,  240. 


Wace,  History  of,  6a. 

wade,  434. 
wage,  209. 
wagon,  189. 
wail,  170. 
wake,  433. 
Walker,  John,  106. 
wall,  165. 
wampum,  194. 
war,  173. 

ward,  209;  adv.  suf.,  46a. 
ware,  209. 
warrant,  209, 
was,  445,  446. 
wasp,  237. 
wassail,  446. 
wax,  vb.,  434. 
way,  323 ;  adv.  suf.,  463. 
Weakening,  vowel,  256. 
wear,  266,  429. 
weave,  432. 

Webster,  Noah,  124,  125. 
wed,  209,  411. 
weel,  245. 
weep,  437. 
welaway,  472. 
Welsh,  47,  258. 
wend,  413. 
went,  413. 

West  Indian  words  in  Eng- 
lish, 194. 
West  Saxon,  see  Saxon, 
wet,  412. 
what,  inter,  pron.,  386;  rel. 

pron.,  389;  indef.  pron., 

396;  interj.,  472. 
wheeze,  437. 
when,  465. 
whence,  465. 
where,  465. 
whet,  412. 
whether,  254. 
which,   inter,    pron.,   387; 

indef.    pron.,     396;    rel. 

pron.,  388. 
while,  suf.,  464. 
whilom,  463. 
whilst,  234. 
whine,  421. 
whiskey,  164. 
White,  Richard  Grant,  124. 
whither,  465. 
who,  236;  inter,  pron.,  384; 

rel.    pron.,    388;    indef. 

pron.,  396. 
whole,  252. 
why,  465. 
wick,  165. 
widow,  31. 
wield,  437. 
wife,  335. 
wight,  399. 


INDEX 


267 


[The  numbers  refer  to  sections.] 


wigwam,  194. 

will,  vb  ,  444.  447,  448. 

William  I,  60,  67,  69,  74. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  62. 

William  Rufus,  67. 

wi  low,  254. 

Wilson,  Thomas,  95,  96. 

win,  427. 

wind,  425. 

wine,  165. 

winter,  92. 

wis,  109. 

wisdom,  244. 

-wise,  adv.  suf.,  463. 

wit,  vb.,  439,  440. 

with,  227,  468;  pref.,  137. 

without,  462. 

woe,  47a. 


woman,  148,  232. 

"  Wonders  of  the  Orient," 

57. 
wont,  412. 
won't,  107. 
woof,  257. 

"  Wooing  of  our  Lord,"  80. 
Worcester,  Joseph  E.,  124. 
word,  314. 

Wordsworth,  William,  109. 
work,  414. 
world,  149. 
wormwood,  270. 
worse,  350. 

worth,  vb.,  "  become,"  428. 
wot,  129,  439,  440. 
wring,  427. 
write,  419,  421. 


writhe,  421. 

wrong,  169. 

Wulfstan,  Homilies  of,  57 

Wyatt,  Thomas,  185. 

Wyclif,  John,  83,  85. 

Wyntoun,  Andrew,  114. 

-y,  adj.  suf.,  269. 
yacht,  189. 
yawl,  189. 
yea,  474. 
year,  92. 
yes,  148,  474. 
yoke,  27,  325. 
yon,  382. 
you,  365. 

Zend,  IX. 


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